Out of Sight, Still in Mind
by shana852963
Summary: 12 years ago, Sam made a pact to never speak to Carly and Freddie again, after having her two former best friends accuse her of something she told them she didn't do. Now she's living on her own, dealing with the struggles of being a single-mother and having a sick child. But now, Carly and Freddie realize that Sam was telling the truth all along...Definite Seddie coming!
1. Chapter 1

**AN-So I've had the first chapter of this story written for awhile now, but I've been hesitant about putting it up. It's more dramatic than any of my other Seddie stories on this site. But I decided I really wanted to write this story so I went ahead and published it. I hope you guys enjoy it. And unlike my other stories, Seddie Oneshots and iStart my Life, this story does actually have an ending. I think it will probably be around 15-20 chapters. Please let me know what you all think. Like I said, this completely different from anything else I've written.**

…**.**

Sam Puckett slammed her car door closed, hugging her coat tight to her body as she trudged through the snow that had fallen in her apartment complex's parking lot. Cursing the fact that she just _had _get stuck on the top floor of the building, Sam headed up the stairs as quickly as she could, still slightly out of breath by the time she reached the top, even though she climbed these stairs at least twice a day. She fished in her pockets for her keys once she reached her door, 14A, and let herself into her home.

The T.V. was blasting she could faintly smell the remains of a microwave dinner.

"Hi mom," Sam's eleven-year old daughter, Leah, said, looking up from the television show she was watching.

"Hi sweetie," Sam smiled, tossing her keys into the dish by the front door and crossing the living room to meet her. She bent down and kissed the top of her head. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah," Leah nodded.

Sam placed a hand on her forehead. "You're burning up still," she sighed.

"I don't feel that sick though," Leah mumbled.

"Well hopefully this new medication will start working soon," Sam said, removing her hand. "Where's Mrs. Fisher?"

Mrs. Fisher was the elderly woman who lived in the apartment across from Sam who would have babysit while she was at work.

"She had to run back to her place because her casserole was burning," Leah explained.

"Where's your sister?"

"She's-"

"I'm here."

Sam turned around to see Leah's twin sister, Kira, coming into the room.

Leah and Kira were fraternal twins, but they both still inherited her blonde hair. Kira, though, had also inherited much more of her personality. While Leah was quiet and reserved, Kira was, for lack of a better term, a bit of a troublemaker.

"How was school?" Sam asked Kira.

"Eh," Kira shrugged.

"Eh?" Sam repeated. "Well, that's something…Anyway, did Mrs. Fisher make you guys dinner?"

"She made us some frozen thing," Kira said. "But it sucked."

"She tried," Leah pointed out.

"Yeah, and it still sucked," Kira snapped. "I'm starving."

Sam chuckled. "You girls want me to cook you something?"

Both of the twins nodded.

"Fine," Sam replied. "Kira, come help me then."

"What?" Kira exclaimed. "I'm in the middle of a videogame in my room!"

"Then you can keep playing it all night while _Leah_ and I feast on Mama's homemade fried chicken," Sam said simply.

Groaning, Kira stomped after her mother into the kitchen.

"Why doesn't Leah ever have to help?" Kira demanded as Sam pulled out a pack of chicken from the fridge.

"Because," Sam said. "She's sick."

"She's always sick," Kira mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Hey," Sam said firmly. "Watch it."

Kira rolled her eyes but said nothing more.

"So," Sam said as she poured some oil into a pot onto the stove. "Am I going to get anymore how school was than 'eh'?"

"Well, um…I won't have to go there for awhile," Kira started sheepishly.

"Why?" Sam said slowly.

"Because I sort of…got suspended."

"Suspended?" Sam cried. "Kira! That's the second time this semester! One more strike and they'll expel you! What did you do this time?"

"I got into a fight," Kira muttered.

"A fight? Really?" Sam said, trying to sound harsh while at the same time trying not to think about how hypocritical she was being at the moment, considering the fact that she had probably gotten into the same amount of fights as Kira when she had been in the sixth grade.

"It wasn't my fault!" Kira defended.

"Sure it wasn't," Sam said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"It's true!" Kira said. "These girls were making fun of Kira at lunch…saying how sickly she looks and that she might as well just live at the hospital. Only I'm allowed to say those things…so I taught them a lesson."

"Oh," Sam said, her tone softening. "Well, um…next time-"

"Don't get caught?" Kira finished, grinning.

Sam laughed and rustled her daughter's hair as she turned back to the chicken.

"So what did you do at work today?" Kira asked, helping her mother coat the meat with a special breadcrumb mix that Sam had perfected over the years.

"Oh you know, same old stuff," Sam said.

"Did you shoot anyone?"

Sam gave her a stern look.

"Never mind," Kira sighed.

Sam worked as a cop for the NYPD. Actually, more specifically, she was a detective, meaning she no longer had to wear the dreaded blue polyester uniform. True, she never exactly worried about her appearance, but even Sam had to admit that _no one_ could pull off that outfit, and was extremely excited when she got promoted five years ago and realized she could now go to work in clothes she didn't want to burn.

Sam liked her job, as ironic as it was, considering all her trouble with the law during her youth. However the job's unusual, long hours did make it hard for her sometimes as a single mother of two pre-teens. She supposed she was lucky to live across from Mrs. Fisher, who claimed since her own children never brought their kids around to her, she had to use up all of her grandmothering on _someone. _

Sam began to place the coated chicken into the now bubbling oil on the stove and the kitchen was suddenly filled with her favorite scent of frying meat. She wondered why it had taken her so long to start making her own fried chicken; it could've saved her a ton of money back in her teens. But then again, she never bought her own fried chicken back then. She always mooched it off of Carly and Freddie…

Carly and Freddie…Just thinking about those two made her painfully aware of the empty feeling inside of her. The feeling that had been present for the past twelve years.

Twelve years…Sometimes she really was amazed that it had been that long since she had seen them. If anyone had told her back in high school that she wouldn't have any contact with Carly or Freddie for that long, she would've laughed in their face.

But here they were.

And as empty as she felt sometimes, thinking back to the past, when everything thing had been simpler and her days were spent lounging on the Shay's couch picking on Freddie, she knew there was no way she would ever go back. Never again would she have anything to do with Carly or Freddie. Not after what had happened between them. She was determined of that.

"Mom, are you trying to cremate that chicken?" Kira asked, bringing Sam back to reality.

"Huh?" Sam frowned, looking down at the chicken she was frying, seeing that it was now very overcooked. "Oh! Dang it…Sorry."

"It's okay," Kira said. "Chicken's chicken."

"I've taught you well," Sam smiled.

…..

Meanwhile, across the country, back in Seattle, Freddie Benson sat a small café booth, tapping his fingers on the wood table impatiently as he read the menu in front of him for the hundredth time.

"Hey!" Carly Shay said suddenly, hurrying into the restaurant and sitting down across from him. "Sorry I'm late."

"No problem," Freddie said. "I already ordered you your cappuccino."

"Thanks," Carly smiled sweetly, shrugging off her jacket. "Man, it's raining like crazy out there. Did you get caught in it too?"

"Nah, I got in here just in time," Freddie said.

"Lucky you," Carly said darkly. "I just got my hair done yesterday for my big meeting this afternoon and now it's probably ruined."

"Your hair looks fine, Carls."

"Oh, you're a boy. What do you know?" Carly smirked.

Freddie rolled his eyes.

Carly and Freddie weren't dating. They were just very good friends still, after all these years. And while they both had gone their own ways career wise, Carly was an editor at a fashion magazine and Freddie worked for the Pear Company, and lived very busy lives, they both managed to craft an hour gap every Friday into their schedules for their weekly lunch to catch up on everything.

"So," Carly said as their waiter brought two cappuccinos out. "How's that new app you've been working on coming along?"

"Not as well as I hoped, but it should hopefully be out of the design phase soon," Freddie told her. "What about you? You have that big fashion shoot to cover next week. Aren't you excited for that?"

"Yeah," Carly said. She looked down at her lap as she sipped her drink.  
Freddie frowned. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Carly answered quickly.

"Carly…" Freddie said knowingly.

"It's nothing," Carly said, setting her cup down. "It's just…well, you want to know why I was late?"

"Why?"

"Because I got stopped by this one woman," Carly explained. "She-She asked me if I was Carly Shay."

"Does she read your magazine?" Freddie inquired.

"That's what I thought at first, but no, she doesn't," Carly said. "She recognized me from iCarly."

Freddie blinked. It had been years since they talked about iCarly. "Really?"

"Yeah," Carly nodded. "Weird, right? I mean, the show ended twelve years ago. Anyway, we were talking for a little bit and I told her I was on my way here to have lunch with you. And she obviously freaked out because she was a big fan of yours and she said she had no idea that we still hung out. I told her you and I were still buds, but then…then she asked me about Sam."

Freddie gripped his mug tightly. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Carly sighed. "I guess she assumed that since I said you and I were still close…"

"Makes sense," Freddie agreed. "But, um, what'd you say?"

"I didn't say anything," Carly said. "I just said that I was late to meet you here and said bye."

Freddie didn't reply.

"Do you think I should've said something more?" Carly asked.

"How could you?" Freddie mumbled. "You don't know what Sam's up to?"

"Oh…right," Carly said.

Freddie began spooning sugar into his drink. It was true; neither of them knew what Sam was up to now. She could still be there in Seattle, or she could be off in Australia. Him and Carly hadn't talked to Sam in twelve years. Not since that day…

….

_Twelve years ago_

"_Wow," Carly whispered, taking one last look at the pile of props that her, Sam, Freddie and Gibby had used just a few minutes ago during their last ever web show. "I can't believe it's really over."_

_Sam, who was standing next to her, didn't reply. _

"_I mean," Carly continued. "It seems like just yesterday we were three thirteen year olds who wanted to try and post a few funny videos…And now…now we're eighteen, all grown up, about to start our lives…"_

"_Hey," Freddie said, setting his camera down and putting a comforting arm around her. "We-We all knew it had to end at some point, didn't we? We couldn't just keep doing iCarly our whole lives, could we?" _

"_No," Carly sighed. "I guess you're right. It had to end at some point." _

"_Why?" Sam asked suddenly._

_Carly and Freddie looked at her. _

"_What do you mean?" Freddie asked. _

"_I mean why does it have to end?" Sam asked. "Think about it! We all know iCarly is like, the most successful web show on the Internet. Why should we just let that go?" _

"_Because we need to go out into the real world and go to college to get jobs and make money to support ourselves, remember?" Carly grinned. "We can't do that by running iCarly all our lives."_

"_Sure we could," Sam said thoughtfully. "There's lots of people who make their money from the Internet without having to go to college. We just find a few sponsors, which will be easy for us, maybe do two or three shows a week instead of one, get some merchandise out there. Who knows? In a couple years we could get a T.V. show or something! Not a lame one, though, like that weird one we tried out when we were kids with the dinosaur. I'm talking bigger. Maybe we can see if Jimmy Fallon is still a fan of the show. He could put in a word with some of his producers and-"_

"_Sam, come on, you can't be serious," Freddie scoffed. _

"_Why not, nub?" Sam snapped. _

"_Sam, look, I'm sad about iCarly ending too," Carly said understandingly. "We all are. But we can't just dedicate the rest of our time to it because we're upset. We need to move on to the next chapter of our lives!"_

"_Where'd you get that one?" Sam mumbled, rolling her eyes. "A fortune cookie?"_

"_I'm serious," Carly said. "And I promise, Sam, you're going to feel a whole lot better about the show ending once you start doing some new things. Heck, when you start at that culinary school in the fall-"_

"_Yeah, about that," Sam sighed. "I'm-I'm not exactly going anymore."_

"_Huh?" Freddie frowned. "What do you mean? I thought they accepted you months ago." _

"_They did," Sam mumbled. "But they ran background checks on all of their students and, well, obviously there was some stuff that they saw when they did mine that probably didn't look too good. So they sent me an email last week that told me they have to take back their acceptance." _

"_What?" Carly exclaimed. "They can't do that!"_

"_Did you try calling the school and talking to the dean?" Freddie asked. _

"_He claims that all acceptances to that place were tentative until they did those stupid background checks," Sam explained. "But…whatever. I don't need that place." _

"_Er, right," Carly nodded. _

"_But Sam, what are you going to do now?" Freddie asked._

"_I told you, we could all make a fortune off of iCarly still!" Sam said, thumping the back of his head. _

"_What? Sam, no," Carly said. _

"_Why not?" Sam moaned. _

"_Because, Carly and I are going to college in a few weeks," Freddie told her. "We won't have time to do the show once our classes start."_

_Sam said nothing._

"_He-He's right Sam," Carly said gently. "I'm sorry about the culinary school, but you can't just hide behind iCarly for the rest of your life. We-We'll figure something out. It's not too late to enroll at community college! And in a couple years you could transfer to another university, earn a degree-"_

"_You and I both know there's no way I could make that happen," Sam said bitterly. She turned on her heel and headed towards the studio door. _

"_Where are you going?" Freddie asked. _

"_To stuff my face with ham," Sam muttered. _

"_Wow," Carly said softly. "Poor Sam." _

"_I know," Freddie agreed. "That culinary school was the only place she got into, wasn't it?" _

_Carly nodded. "And she was so excited when she got in."_

"_It's not fair that they're holding her record against her," Freddie said. _

"_I know," Carly said miserably. "And I feel horrible for her, I really do. But…she can't expect us to keep doing iCarly. It's like you said; you and I are going up to University of Washington in just a few weeks."_

"_Exactly," Freddie said. _

_Freddie and Carly had both been accepted to the university months ago. It had been Carly's first choice. Freddie, of course, had his sights set on schools that were highly advanced in technology, like MIT and Cal Tech. But, well, his mother nearly had a panic attack at the very thought of her only son leaving the state without her, and as much as she annoyed him, she was his mom, and he ended up compromising and accepting his offer to University of Washington with Carly. _

_Sam had also applied to the university, only to stop Carly's pestering. She didn't get in, though. She claimed she saw it coming and wasn't bothered at all by the rejection, but Freddie swore he saw a bit of sadness in those blue eyes the day she got that email…_

"_I wish there was something we could do," Freddie continued, opening up his laptop on his tech cart and pulling up his email account. "Maybe you should have one of your girly sleepover things and talk to her about doing that community college thing for real. That way she can-What?! No!"_

"_What? What happened?" Carly asked, rushing over to his side. _

"_I-I just got an email from University of Washington," Freddie said slowly. "Here, listen to it. 'Dear Mr. Benson, Due to our high number of accepted students this year and our newly limited amount of space at the university, we regret to inform you that we must resend our acceptance of you to the school.'"_

"_What?" Carly exclaimed. "They can't do that!"_

"_Maybe you should check your email too," Freddie said, his eyes still wide with shock. "And make sure you're still safe." _

"_Okay," Carly nodded, quickly pulling up her email on his computer. _

"_What am I going to do now?" Freddie moaned. "I was supposed to start there in a few weeks! I already turned down all my other offers; I have nowhere else to go!" _

"_We-We'll figure this out," Carly assured him. "We'll-No! I-I got the same letter." _

"_What's going on?" Freddie asked. "I mean, I know that most universities have the same policy as Sam's culinary school about background checks, but you and I wouldn't have any problem with that! Maybe…Maybe it was our test scores? Or-Or maybe we didn't have strong enough recommendation letters. Or maybe-wait. Hang on a second." _

"_What?" Carly asked, already beginning to pace back and forth nervously. _

"_There's something weird about this email," Freddie said slowly. "Look at the bottom where the university president's name is printed."_

"_So?" Carly frowned. "What's that got to do with anything?"_

"_It says 'Richard Witherings'," Freddie said. _

"_Yeah. And?" _

"_The president of the University of Washington's name is Richard Witherhing," Freddie said. "It's spelled wrong on here." _

"_It is?" Carly said. _

"_Yeah," Freddie said slowly. "And look. This email is in a completely different font than any other email we've gotten from the school." _

"_You're right," Carly said. "But what's that mean?" _

"_Hold on," Freddie said thoughtfully, typing quickly into his keyboard. "Let me see if I can figure out where exactly this email was sent from….Ah-ha! Got it! It was sent from…CyberRibs?" _

"_That new rib joint with all the computers?" Carly said. "Sam loves that place." _

"_I don't think a university would send out rejection emails from a public computer at some rib shack," Freddie said. _

"_What are you saying?" Carly asked. _

"_I'm saying…I think those emails were fake," Freddie told her. _

"_Fake?" Carly repeated. "Well-Well who would do that? I mean what if you hadn't been able to find that out? Huh? We would've just not shown up for the start of the semester! Oh my God! We would've of-"_

"_Carls, calm down," Freddie said. _

"_What did I tell you about telling girls to calm down?" Carly snapped. "Is there any way that you can find out who sent that email? Because I swear, when I get my hands on them-"_

"_You'll what?" Freddie asked, amused. "You're Carly. You're not exactly intimidating." _

"_Can you find out who sent that email or not?" Carly asked, putting her hands on her hips. _

"_I think so," Freddie nodded, still typing away at his computer. "See, CyberRibs makes everyone sign onto their computers with a special username and password. If I can hack into their system, I can find out the user who was on the computer when the email was sent." _

"_Cool, now type faster!" Carly said urgently. _

"_I'm going as fast as I can!" Freddie hissed. "Be patient, will you? Oh, wait. I got it!" _

"_Good," Carly said, satisfied. "Now who was it?" _

"_Whoa," Freddie said softly, staring at the screen. "No way…"_

"_What?" Carly asked. _

"_It-It was Sam," Freddie said._

"_Huh?" _

"_Look," Freddie said, showing her the screen. "That email was sent from that computer when a SamPuckettLovesAMeatBucket was signed in."_

"_That's Sam's username," Carly whispered. "I-I don't believe it. Sam sent us those letters?" _

_Freddie nodded. "I can't believe she would do that. I mean…I know she was a little upset that you and I were going to be leaving, but she knew how much we were looking forward to starting college." _

"_I know," Carly nodded. _

_Freddie still stared at the computer screen. He would've never thought Sam would do this. She would do a lot of things, sure, but this? Even she had limits. Or at least, he thought she did. He had always thought Sam was the type of person who would at least look out for her friends. _

_The longer he stared at that computer screen, the angrier he got. What kind of person would do this? This wasn't just a harmless prank. This could've messed up his entire future. Did she really care that little about him?_

_Somehow, just that thought, about her not caring, upset him more than the situation itself. He couldn't exactly figure out why though…_

"_Come on," Carly said angrily, snapping him out of his daze. "Let's go talk to her!" _

"_Yeah!" Freddie echoed, following Carly as she stormed out of the studio. _

_The two of them stomped down the steps and into the kitchen, where Sam was sitting at the table, eating sliced ham. _

"_Okay, Puckett!" Freddie said harshly, causing Sam to jump slightly in surprise. _

"_What?" she frowned, looking up.  
"Don't 'what' us!" Carly snapped. "I can't believe you did that Sam?" _

"_What'd I do?" Sam asked, not sounding too concerned. "Oh. Look, is this about the paint I spilled on your comforter the other day?" _

"_Huh? No! It's about that email!" _

"_Email?" Sam repeated. "What email?" _

"_Don't play dumb," Freddie said harshly. "We figured out it was you who sent it." _

"_I'm not playing dumb," Sam spat. "What email are you two talking about?" _

"_The one that told Freddie and I we weren't accepted into University of Washington after all!" Carly said loudly. _

"_You two didn't get in?" Sam asked. "But…why would they reject you now? I mean, neither of you would fail a background check." _

"_We didn't get rejected!" Freddie yelled. "You just wanted us to think we did so we'd stay here in Seattle like you!" _

"_What?"_

"_You sent that fake email from CyberRibs!" Carly said.  
"No I didn't!" Sam retorted. _

"_Freddie traced it back to a computer from there that was signed in on your account," Carly said, crossing her arms. "And you're always hanging out at that place. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together, Sam. How could you do that? Do you even realize what you could've done? Do you even care that you could've ruined my future and Freddie's future with those emails?" _

"_I didn't send those emails!" Sam exclaimed. "Why would I want to keep you two from that place anyway?" _

"_Because you were upset that everyone else had plans but you," Freddie said, anger building up inside of him. "Carly and I were going to leave for college while you were stuck here in Seattle because you didn't get in anywhere! Well you know what, Sam? You need to just accept the fact that everyone else didn't slack off their whole life and is moving on. You can't drag us all down with you!" _

_Sam looked taken aback at Freddie's brazen comment. She looked over at Carly, expecting her best friend to say __**something **__in her defense, but Carly looked as if she agreed with every word that had come out of his mouth. _

"_I didn't send any email," Sam said again. _

"_I always knew you were a world-class liar," Carly said softly. "I just never thought you'd lie to us." _

_Sam blinked. "Are you two seriously not going to believe me?"_

"_We know what happened, Sam," Freddie said firmly.  
Sam shook her head. "Well you're wrong." _

"_I would've never thought you would do something like this," Carly said softly. _

"_Yeah, well," Sam said, her voice just as poisonous as Carly's. "I would've never thought you'd have this little faith in your so-called-best-friend."_

_And with that she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. _

…

That was the last time Carly or Freddie had seen Sam. For the first year or two, they would occasionally bring her up, mostly saying how they still couldn't believe she hadn't apologized from almost keeping them from attending college. But then, as time went by, they simply…didn't mention her.

Of course, Freddie could only speak for himself, but even though he didn't speak about Sam, that didn't mean he didn't think about her. Constantly.

"Well, still," Carly said, picking up a menu. "It was kind of weird talking about iCarly again."

"I bet," Freddie nodded. "Anyway, I'm starved."

"Well, I think that's our waitress coming now," Carly said.

Sure enough, a young woman stopped by the table with a pad of paper.

"Hi," Freddie smiled. "I'll have the turkey burger."

"And I'll have a garden salad," Carly said.

"Sure thing," the waitress said. "But first…well, I hope you don't think I was eavesdropping, but I heard you guys mention iCarly and you look very familiar. You wouldn't happen to be Carly Shay and Freddie Benson from the show, would you?"

"Well, yeah," Freddie chuckled. "We are."

"Oh my God," the waitress grinned. "No way! I was like, such a huge fan of the show when I was a kid! You guys were the best!"

"Aw, that's so sweet," Carly said politely.

"I was so sad when the show ended," the waitress continued.

"Well, so were we," Freddie told her. "But, you know, we grew up. We had to move on to the rest of our lives."

"Right," Carly nodded.

"Yeah, well, a lot of us fans were pretty bitter," the waitress said. "In fact…" she gave a small laugh. "Man, I can't believe we did this. But right after your last show ended, me and a few of my friends who watched the show too sent you two these fake emails from the University of Washington saying that your acceptances had been denied because we were hoping that you all would keep doing the show!"

Carly nearly choked on her cappuccino and Freddie almost fell out of the booth.

"W-What?" Carly asked weakly.

"Yeah, we found a free computer at some old rib place that used to be here, wrote that email and sent it the both of you," the waitress chortled. "Stupid of us, really. But well, looks like you two still managed to get there." She nodded at the University of Washington phone case Freddie had on his Pearphone on the table.

"You-You sent that email?" Freddie asked, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah, but hey, we've all done dumb things before," the waitress shrugged. "Anyway, I'll go put your orders in."

"I-How-Wait," Carly said as the waitress left. "How could she have sent that email? I thought that it was sent under Sam's account."

"It was!" Freddie said.

"But then how come this lady is saying she did it?" Carly hissed. "Is she lying?"

"She can't be; no one else but us knew about that email," Freddie said. "I still don't know why it showed up under Sam's account. Unless…oh no."

"What?"

"You remember how you and I would always hound Sam about signing out of her accounts when she would use our laptops?" Freddie said, his voice shaking.

"Yes," Carly nodded. "But what does that have to-oh no. Are you saying-"

"Sam probably didn't sign out of her account at the rib place where the email was sent," Freddie said, feeling sick to his stomach. "She was probably there earlier that day, left the computer open, and then that waitress and her friends took it over when she was gone! That's why it showed up under her account!"

"S-So Sam was telling us the truth that day," Carly said, her eyes watering up. "She didn't send us those emails."

"No," Freddie said.

"Oh my God," Carly said, tears beginning to fall down her face. "Freddie? What did we do?"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN-Thank you guys so much for all the great reviews; I really appreciate them! **

…

Sam stepped out of the shower, drying her hair as she toweled herself off. She quickly ran a comb through her damp curls, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She slowly traced over the long, thin scar that ran from the top of her shoulder down to almost her elbow. Kira and Leah used to ask her about it when they were younger. She told them she had gotten it at work.

It's what she told everybody.

After quickly dressing, Sam headed out into the living room.

Leah was still fast asleep on the sofa. She had fallen asleep there the previous night and Sam had decided that it would be easier to let her stay than to wake her to go to her own bed.

"Leah," Sam whispered, gently shaking her daughter's shoulder. "Sweetie, wake up."

Leah stirred and slowly opened her eyes.

"Did I fall asleep out here?" she yawned.

"Yeah," Sam smiled. "Sorry to wake you, kiddo, but you need to take your medicine."

"But mom, I hate that stuff," Leah moaned. "It makes me feel terrible."

"I know," Sam said. "But the doctors think it will help you a lot. It's just going to take some time for your body to get used to it, that's all."

Leah sighed as Sam handed her a large purple pill and a glass of water.

"I'm working late tonight," Sam continued as Leah cringed, swallowing the pill. "So I moved your doctor's appointment to during my lunch break."

Leah nodded. "Okay."

"Hopefully we won't get stuck in the waiting room with another old man who smells like cheese," Sam grinned.

Leah laughed.

"You know," Kira said, stretching as she walked out in the living room, still wearing her pajamas. "Maybe this whole suspension thing isn't too bad. I get to lounge around the house and do nothing all day long."

"No, no, no," Sam said, getting to her feet. "Your teachers all emailed me your assignments for the rest of the week, and I printed them all out for you. So get started on them. They better be done by the time I get home tonight."

"Ugh, I would've been better off going to school then," Kira moaned.

"Maybe you'll think of that before getting suspended next time," Sam said. "And Leah's doing the same work you are; just work on it with her."

Leah had enrolled in online schooling at the beginning of the semester, seeing as she was absent far too often to keep up with the workload at public school.

"She'll just want me to give her all the answers," Leah said, rolling her eyes.

"You can't just help me out?" Kira pleaded.

"How will you learn?" Leah said, grinning.

"Oh come on," Kira said. "Like it's really going to make a difference if I know how to solve for X in the real world. That's why there's calculators on your phone now."

Leah began to laugh, but a few seconds later, her laughs turned into loud gags and Sam quickly grabbed the nearby bucket and handed it to her, holding back Leah's blonde hair as she began to vomit up what little she had in her stomach.

_It's just a side effect of the medication_, Sam told herself. _The doctor said this was normal…_

"You okay?" Sam asked, taking the bucket once Leah had finished.

"Yeah," Leah said softly, taking a sip of her water.

"Alright, well, I've got to go then," Sam said. "Mrs. Fisher will be here in a few minutes, once she puts her teeth in."

"We're eleven, mom," Kira said. "We don't need a babysitter. Why can't we just stay home alone?"

"Because you'd blow the place up in a matter of minutes," Sam said simply, grabbing her jacket. She kissed each of the girls on top of their heads. "I'll see you tonight. Behave for Mrs. Fisher!"

…

Freddie yawned as he stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the door of Carly's penthouse apartment. He hadn't slept at all last night. He still couldn't believe what he had found out yesterday.

Sam had been telling the truth all those years ago, and him and Carly had broken off their friendship with her for nothing.

He felt horrible. What kind of a person did something like that? Had he really been _that _stupid as to not believe Sam when she said she hadn't sent that email back then? She was one of his best friends; why didn't he believe her?

He knocked on Carly's door.

"Who is it?" he heard her call from inside.

"Freddie."

Carly unlocked the door and let him inside.

Freddie could tell at first glance that this was eating away at Carly just as much as it was him. Her normally perfect hair was a mess, she was wearing old sweatpants and a hoodie, and it looked as if she had been crying. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Freddie said, offering her a weak smile.

"You hungry?" Carly asked. "I think I have some bagels and cream cheese in my fridge."

"I'm good, thanks," Freddie said, sitting down on her leather couch.

Carly had certainly done well for herself. As the make-up editor of one of the nation's leading fashion magazines, she made a very decent living. Her penthouse apartment had cost her six figures and she had wasted no time in decorating it with nearly everything from the Pottery Barrel catalogue.

Freddie had a sizable amount of money from his job at the Pear Company as well. But unlike Carly, he currently resided in a studio apartment in a building a few blocks away. He didn't see the point in spending all that money on a huge place just for him. Heck, nearly everything he had made since college was put right into a savings account. It wasn't as though he had anybody to spend it on.

"So," Carly said, sitting down next Freddie. "What are we going to do?"

Freddie had been wondering that same thing all night.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"God…I can't believe this," Carly sighed. "We really screwed up, Freddie. We cost the three of us twelve years of friendship."

Freddie didn't reply.

"Well," Carly said, breaking the silence after a moment. "We-We need to find her. To apologize."

Freddie looked over at her. "I know," he agreed. "But…Do you think she even wants to see us? I mean, we haven't talked to her in twelve years, and the last time we saw her, well, it wasn't exactly pretty."

"We have to try," Carly said firmly.

Freddie nodded. "Yeah, we do. But I don't have any idea where she is."

"Neither do I," Carly said. "But hey, this is the technological era! Maybe if we just type her name into ZapLook, we can find something! It's worth a try, isn't it?"

Freddie remained silent. Truthfully, he had already done this. There were some nights when for some reason Sam Puckett wouldn't leave his thoughts, and he would break down and search her name.

He never found anything promising, though. Everything that popped up was from the iCarly days.

Of course, he couldn't Carly know about this. So he pulled out his Pearbook and typed Sam's name into the search engine as she requested.

"Nothing," Carly mumbled, seeing the less-than-helpful results. "Do you think she still has her old Splashface account?"

"She must've deactivated it, otherwise it would've shown up in the search," Freddie said.

"Well…I got it!" Carly said. "You know how to do that tracking thing with someone's Pearphone!"

"Yes, but I have to have their phone number," Freddie pointed out. "How much do you want to bet that Sam's gotten around to changing it at some point in the last twelve years? Although…"

"What?" Carly asked desperately. "What are you thinking?"

"If she only changed her phone number within the last ten years," Freddie said slowly. "I should still be able to track the phone. It would just take a little longer."

"Well do that!" Carly said.

"I-I don't know, Carly," Freddie sighed. "I don't even know what her password for her phone would be anymore."

"Freddie, you're one of the leading developers at the Pear Company," Carly said, raising an eyebrow. "You _know _how to hack someone's password."

She had a point.

So without anymore protests, Freddie took his Pearbook back from Carly. He pulled out his own Pearphone and scrolled through his contacts. He could never explain to himself why he would always continue to add Sam's phone number whenever he would get a new phone. But right now, he was thankful he did.

Carly sat next to him in complete silence as he typed away at his computer. Were they completely crazy to be doing this? Were they really going to track Sam down after twelve years of not speaking to her? What were they even going to say to her if they managed to find her? 'Hey Sam. Sorry we completely cut you out of our lives for over a decade, but why don't we just forget about that and be friends again?'

Somehow she didn't see it happening quite like that.

Maybe this was a bad idea. Sam probably wouldn't even want to hear their apology at this point in her life. Carly couldn't exactly blame her either.

But deep down she knew that she would never be able to live with herself if she didn't do everything she could to try.

Nearly an hour had passed before Freddie finally spoke again.

"I think I got something," Freddie said.

"You found her?" Carly asked, looking at the computer screen.

"I think," Freddie nodded. "It took longer than I thought, but I think this is her."

"Sam Puckett," Carly read from the screen. "It says she lives in Manhattan…And that she's with the NYPD."

_Who would've thought Sam Puckett would become a cop_, Freddie thought to himself. He wondered just what else he didn't know about Sam anymore.

"Well," he said, closing his laptop. "Looks like we're going to New York."


	3. Chapter 3

Sam hated doctors' offices. The smell, the noise, the hustle…everything.

She looked at her phone for the fifteenth time that hour and sighed. She had been in the waiting room for what seemed like an eternity while Leah was back with her doctor. She didn't like the fact that she wasn't allowed back with her daughter, and having to sit out here flipping through dated magazines made her feel even more helpless.

"Sam?"

Sam turned around and saw Leah's doctor walking towards her.

"Hey Phil," Sam said, getting to her feet.

After years and years of check-ups, appointments and emergencies, the two had settled into a first-name basis.

"Where's Leah?" Sam asked, expecting to see her coming around the corner after the doctor.

"She's getting cleaned up with a nurse," Phil explained. "She'll be out in a moment. But right now I wanted to talk to you. Privately."

"Well how is she?" Sam asked. "Is that new medication working? I know she's been having some side effects, but it's helping her, right?"

"I afraid she isn't being as responsive to the new medicine as we would've hoped," Phil told Sam gently.

"Oh," Sam said, crossing her arms tightly against her body. "Well then…I guess she won't have to stay on it anymore. She'll be happy…she hates the stuff."

"She told me," Phil nodded. "But Sam…Leah's not doing too well."

Sam looked up at him. "You mean…she's _worse_?"

"Her kidney lost more of its function in the three months since her last appointment," Phil said heavily. "And I'm afraid she's going to continue to get worse until she gets a new kidney."

"Well she's on the donor recipient list still, isn't she?" Sam demanded.

"Yes, but it's not likely a donor would come through before the end of the year," the doctor explained. "Leah's going to need the transplant sooner than that."

Sam could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and her stomach clenching.

"What other medicine is there?" Sam whispered, refusing to crumble in the middle of the doctor's office. "New treatments…anything."

"Sam-"

"What else is there?" Sam snapped.

"We can start her on a new experimental treatment that I just reviewed last week," Phil sighed. "I cannot promise results; it's still in the trial stage, but-"

"We'll do it," Sam said at once. "Start her on it."

Phil nodded. "We'll also need to start her back up on dialysis again. Bring her back in tomorrow morning for her fist session."

"Okay," Sam said.

"Hi mom,"

Sam looked over her shoulder and saw Leah being wheeled around the corner by a nurse.

"Hey sweetie," Sam said, plastering a fake smile on. "You all set?"

"Yup," Leah replied.

"Take care, Leah," Phil said, patting her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm coming back here tomorrow?" Leah frowned as the doctor walked away.

"Um, yeah," Sam said. "You're going back on dialysis."

Leah looked down at her lap, but didn't say anything.  
Sam could feel her heart breaking. She knew how much Leah dreaded her dialysis appointments, as they drained nearly every speck of energy out of her.

"It won't be as bad this time," Sam assured her.

Leah nodded, knowing just as well as her mother that those words held no truth.

….

Sam quickly dropped Leah back off at home and sped back to work, getting back to her desk not one second too soon.

"How was the doctors' office?" Sam's partner, a middle-aged man named Caleb, asked.

"Fine," Sam said simply. "Leah has to go back on dialysis."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, hopefully it will actually do something this time," Sam sighed.

"You know you can ask me to cover for you if you need it," Caleb told her. "I know you've got a lot on your plate right now."

Sam gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," Caleb told her. "Anyway, right now you and I have to go investigate an assault that just happened over on 52nd."

"Alright," Sam sighed, ignoring the rumbling feeling in her stomach.

She had to skip lunch.

She followed Caleb out to their shared squad car, though her mind wasn't exactly focused on the details of the assault Caleb was currently telling her.

_This new treatment could work this time_, Sam told herself. _You never know. Or maybe a donor will finally come through for her…_

Leah had been diagnosed with kidney failure shortly after her third birthday. Sam had been caught completely off guard by it. One day, Leah had been perfectly fine, playing and running around with Kira, and then the next day, she was vomiting up blood. Ever since then, Leah had been in and out of the hospital. When she was eight, she had to have one of her kidneys removed and was left with only one, barely functioning.

Right after Leah had her kidney removed, Phil had told Sam that there was a strong possibility that there would come a time when her remaining kidney would no longer be able to support itself anymore, and she would need a new one. Sam wasted no time putting Leah on the donor list, and she then went to have herself tested, to see if she would be able to donate a kidney to her daughter if she would need to.

She was devastated when she was told that she was not a match. Kira was tested too, but it was no luck.

Sam's mom agreed to be tested, along with her Uncle Carmine, Melanie, many of her cousins, and even Caleb. But no one turned up a positive match. It looked like she would have to hold out for a miracle.

"Sam? Sam? Did you hear me?"

"Huh? What?" Sam asked, snapping out of her thoughts.

"I asked if you wanted to talk to the victim or the witnesses first?" Caleb said.

"Oh, um, the-the victim," Sam said.

"You okay?" Caleb asked, concerned. "Everyone will understand if you need to clock out early."

Sam shook her head. "Just drive."

…..

"Can you find anything else out about her?" Carly asked as her and Freddie sat in their seats on their flight to Manhattan.

"No," Freddie said, scrolling through his laptop. "All I'm finding is that she's a cop. I figure we can look up her address at city hall once we get to the city."

Carly nodded, leaning back in her seat.

What was she even going to say to Sam when she saw her? She never imagined her and Sam would have a twelve-year gap between them. They had been inseparable all their lives and now Carly didn't even know what Sam was like. Would she be the same aggressive but lovable blonde she was in high school?

Or would she be someone else?

Freddie too was lost in his own thoughts. He kept scrolling through his computer, hoping that he would indeed come across just a tiny bit more information about Sam.

_I wonder why she decided to become a cop_, Freddie thought to himself. _I wonder if she still eats a serving of meat at every meal. I wonder if she ever made it to college. I wonder if she's married…_

"Attention passengers, our plane will be landing in Manhattan in five minutes," came a voice on the intercom. "Please buckle your seatbelts and prepare for landing."

Carly looked over at Freddie. "I guess this is it."


	4. Chapter 4

"What is _this_?" Kira cringed, looking down at the plate Sam had just slid in front of her.

"Organic chicken breasts with a spinach salad and fresh vegetables," Sam replied, sliding a plate in front of Leah as well before sitting down at the table with the twins.

Whenever Leah was put on dialysis or in the middle of a new treatment, she was always put on a very strict diet.

Nothing deep-fried, no sugar, as little fat as possible…

Sam had decided that as much as she loved her food, she couldn't stand to bite into a piece of ham knowing Leah couldn't enjoy the same pleasure, so whenever Leah was put on this diet, so was the rest of the family.

"Can't I just skip to desert?" Kira asked.

"No desert tonight," Sam said.

"What?"

"Mom, you don't have to do this," Leah mumbled, still weak from her first dialysis session. "I don't care if you guys eat normal food."

"Hey, some healthy food won't hurt us," Sam said, trying not to gag as she chewed a cold piece of broccoli.

"Speak for yourself," Kira mumbled, jabbing her plain chicken breast with her fork.

"Just eat it, please," Sam sighed. "And have you finished everything for school yet? You go back tomorrow. And if you even _think _about getting suspended again-"

"Relax, I won't," Kira said.

"Good," Sam said. "Anyway, tomorrow, Kira, you're responsible for waking yourself up to catch the school bus. I got stuck going into work at six in the morning."

"Since when do you go into work that early?" Leah asked.

"It's the only way I could get the next two days off," Sam explained. "We have to be at the hospital to start the new treatment."

"Well, there's no way I'm eating this," Kira said, pushing her plate away and getting to her feet. "I'm gonna go watch T.V."

Sam didn't stop her; she didn't feel like arguing with her right now.

"Alright, well after you finish eating, you should probably go back to bed and rest," Sam said, chewing on the dry chicken.

"How long do I have to do dialysis this time?" Leah asked.

Sam bit the corner of her mouth. "Um, it depends on how well this new treatment goes," she replied.

Leah didn't respond.

"Hey," Sam said, giving her a small smile. "Don't worry about it, okay? Everything will be fine."

….

About an hour later, while Leah was in the shower, Sam walked into the twins' room, where Kira was laying on her bed, watching T.V.

"Hey," Sam said, sitting down at the foot of her bed. "What's up?"

"I'm hungry," Kira mumbled.

"Maybe because you didn't eat anything for dinner?" Sam suggested, rolling her eyes.

"I don't like Leah's stupid health food," Kira said.

"I know," Sam said. "I'm not exactly the biggest fan of it either. But we're doing it for your sister, remember."

"Yeah, I know," Kira sighed.

Sam looked at her daughter. Sometimes she felt guilty that she sometimes had to give all her attention to Leah. She hoped Kira understood…

"You know what," Sam said softly, putting her arm around the child. "How about you and I do something this weekend? Just you and me."

Kira looked up. "Really? I thought Leah had some doctors appointment or something."

"Nope, hopefully this weekend will be doctor free," Sam smiled. "But how about we go see a movie or something? I'll have Mrs. Fisher come over and take care of Leah."

"Okay," Kira said, smiling. "Can we go see something rated R?"

"Um…we'll see," Sam said.

"Cool," Kira grinned.

"Alright, well I'm going to go see if Leah's done with her shower so I can give her the new medicine," Sam said, getting up. She made to head out the door.

"Mom?" Kira said.

"Yeah?"

"Is this new medicine really going to work for Leah?"

Sam closed her eyes. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I-I hope so."

"What if it doesn't?" Kira asked quietly.

Sam went back over to the bed. "If it doesn't," Sam said, her voice shaking a bit. "Then we hope that a donor comes through for her."

Kira nodded. "Are you sure I'm not a match to her?"

Sam gave a small nod. "You know they already tested you, sweetie."

"But…we're twins," Kira said. "Don't we have to be a match?"

"You're fraternal twins," Sam explained. "It only works that way with identical twins. Like your Aunt Melanie and me."

"Oh," Kira whispered. She looked down, and Sam could see that her eyes were wet.

"Don't worry about it," Sam said, just as she had told Leah earlier. "Maybe…Maybe this medicine will work this time. You never know."

"Maybe," Kira mumbled.

Sam kissed the top of her head. "Go get some rest, okay?"

…..

That evening, after both of the twins had fallen asleep, Sam retreated back to her bedroom. She laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

_When is this ever going to get easier? _Sam thought to herself, feeling her eyes sting with tears.

She didn't bother to stop them; alone in her bed was the only place she would allow herself to fall apart.

She may have told Leah and Kira not to worry about anything, that maybe this time the medication would work for Leah and she wouldn't have to find some miraculous donor to save her, but that didn't mean she could convince herself.

As much as she hated it, from the second she found out about Leah's condition eight years ago, Sam had always been haunted with one thought: what would it be like to lose your child?

She didn't know if she could handle it. She didn't know what she would do if she had to go through that pain.

And that's why she kept fighting. She didn't care how slim of a chance any new treatment or medication was, if it was going to give her daughter hope, she was going to take it.

Sam closed her eyes and pulled her blanket close to her and cried herself to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe these things still exists," Carly commented, picking up a large phonebook from a desk in city hall.

"Be thankful they do," Freddie mumbled. "They're the only way we're gonna find out where the heck Sam lives in this crazy city."

"Well let's see if I still remember how to use this," Carly sighed, opening the book up. "Puckett, Puckett…Whoa! There's thirty-six Pucketts in this city!"

"Check the first names," Freddie told her.

"Let's see," Carly said. "Alright, I see a 'Samantha Puckett' and a 'Sam Puckett'. Which one do you think is her?"

The two looked at each other.

"Sam Puckett," the both said almost instantly.

"Okay, it says here that Sam lives in a building named Brawding Acres," Carly said. "Apartment 14A. Do you know where that would be?"

"I will in a sec," Freddie replied, typing the apartment building into his phone. He pulled up a set of directions on how to get to the building. "It's about twenty minutes away from here."

"Well then," Carly said, taking a deep breath. "I guess we'd better go try and hail a cab."

….

"Alright," Sam sighed, sitting on the edge of her desk, looking through a stack of papers. "How are we gonna divvy this stuff up?"

"I'll take the first ten pages of the paperwork, you take the rest," Caleb said, taking his share from his partner.

"Fair enough," Sam said, stuffing her paperwork into her bag. "Man, I hate working these long days. My feet feel like they're going to fall off."

"Is it too crazy to wish for crime to stop for just one day so we could have a break?" Caleb smiled.

"In this city?" Sam scoffed. "Please."

"Yeah, maybe I'd have better luck out in some small suburban neighborhood," Caleb sighed.

"Nah," Sam said. "Everywhere has its problems."

"True," Caleb agreed. He pushed back his desk chair and got to his feet. "So, you have any plans for the rest of the night?"

"Let's see, it's almost ten, so all I have down on the schedule is falling into my bed for the next eight hours," Sam said. "Why?"

"Vivian wanted me to ask you to come by the bar with us tonight to grab some drinks," Caleb said.

"No thanks," Sam replied. "Wouldn't want to intrude on your little date night with your wife. Besides, I know better than to fall for one of her little stunts again; every time I go out with you two, she tries to set me up on a date."

"Come on, it kind of worked at that sushi place last year," Caleb grinned. "You got together with the guy she brought along for you."

"Yeah, and it was a great two weeks and five days," Sam laughed. "And then I realized he was a total loser."

"The guy wasn't that bad."

"He collected dryer lint."

"Okay…he was kind of a dud," Caleb admitted. "But I think she's bringing a guy from her gym for you to meet tonight. Weird guys don't usually hang out at the gym, right?"

"Look, Caleb, tell Viv I appreciate her trying to set me up with nearly every guy she comes across, but I think I'm gonna take a rain check on tonight. I'm really exhausted from today and I need to take Leah into the hospital tomorrow, so I'm gonna go get some sleep."

"Alright," Caleb nodded. "I'll see you later then. Tell the girls I said hi."

"I will," Sam told him.

By the time Sam drove back to her building and climbed all the way up to her apartment, it was already ten-thirty and the girls were asleep. Mrs. Fisher had left a note saying that she had run back across the hall to look for her knitting needles. Sam sent her a quick text message telling her that she was home so she didn't need to come back over.

She collapsed onto the couch, kicking off her shoes. She supposed she should get started on all that paperwork she needed to do, but she didn't think she could bring herself to do it.

She leaned back in her seat, taking in the quiet of the apartment.

_I wonder if I should've gone with Caleb_, Sam thought to herself. It _had _been awhile since she had been in any sort of relationship. Probably close to a year. Juggling work, being a single-mother, and the many hospital trips didn't exactly leave a whole lot of time for dating. Maybe it would be sort of nice to have someone around…

But then she felt the familiar pang in her shoulder that would come every once in a while. She pulled off her jacket and massaged the spot where her scar was, and she was quickly reminded of why it was that she wasn't rushing to get a man.

Sam was just about to head to bed when she heard a knock at her front door. She frowned. Who would be visiting her this late? Maybe it was Mrs. Fisher, coming to tell her something, or maybe it was the building owner, asking her why he hadn't received his utilities check this month.

_Dang it, I was supposed to mail that check last week_, Sam cursed herself as she hurried to the front door. She opened it up, ready to start giving excuses for why the check was late.

But it wasn't the building owner standing in her doorway.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the dark-haired woman and muscular man standing in front of her.

It was Carly Shay and Freddie Benson.


	6. Chapter 6

What were Carly and Freddie doing standing at her doorway after twelve years?

It took Sam a moment to recover from the shock of seeing her two former best friends right in front of her.

"What-What are you doing here?" Sam snapped, putting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes.

"Sam, we need to talk to you," Carly said.

"Talk?" Sam repeated. "Yeah, right. Like I want to talk to you two."

"Sam, we-" Freddie began.

"Get out of here," Sam cut him off. "It's been a pretty great twelve years; don't ruin it now."

And with that she spun on her heel and slammed the door in their faces. She locked it and then retreated back to the living room.

Did that really just happen? She never imagined she would see Carly or Freddie again, but there they were.

A million questions were racing through her head. How did they find her? What did they want? Why did they come and see her?

She heard another knock at the door, but made no attempt to answer it.

There had been times, when she first left Seattle, when she would sometimes imagine reuniting with those two.

But thinking about that just made her feel weak. So she forced herself to block those thoughts out.

She was actually quite proud of the way she had stood her ground and slammed that door in their face.

There was another knock, but Sam ignored it. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of coaxing her out to them.

Another knock.

_Well let them keep knocking until their knuckles bleed_, Sam told herself firmly. _They can stay out there all night for all I care_.

Just then she heard her cell phone begin to ring. She pulled it out and saw Mrs. Fisher's name on her caller ID.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hello, dear," the old woman answered. "Do you know that you have a man and a woman standing outside pounding on your front door?"

"Er, yeah, I do," Sam nodded.

"Well they'll wake the whole building soon," Mrs. Fisher said. "Do you know them, dear?"

"Um…more or less," Sam said slowly.

"Just take care of them," she told her. "Because I'd like to get some sleep."

"Yeah, okay, sorry, Mrs. Fisher," Sam said.

Sam hung up her phone, the knocks coming from outside still ringing through her ears.

_They're gonna wake up the twins soon_, Sam thought.

Letting out a defeated sigh, she turned around and walked back to the front door and opened it.

"Do you two _mind_?" she hissed.

"Sam, please, we really need to talk to you," Carly said, a bit of desperation in her voice.

"Hmmm…how about no?" Sam replied. "In case you guys haven't picked up on it yet, you're probably the last people on the planet I want to even see, let alone talk to."

"Just for a minute," Freddie spoke up. "Please Sam?"

"You've already been pounding on my door for a minute, so time's up," Sam said coldly. "And how'd you even find me anyway?"

She couldn't resist adding in the last part.

"We sort of hacked your phone," Carly admitted slowly.

Sam glared at the pair. "You _hacked _my phone? Do you know how illegal that is? I could have you arrested for that! _And _for trespassing right now! You have about thirty seconds to beat it before I call the cops, and for _me_, they'll speed over here in no time."

She made to slam the door once more.

"Sam, we know you were telling the truth about those emails!" Freddie said quickly.

Sam blinked. "What?"

"We-We know that you never sent us those emails to try and keep us out of college," Carly repeated. "We-We know that you were telling the truth."

Sam let out a small laugh. "Took you long enough."

"So will you please talk to us?" Carly asked. "Please, Sam. We just need to tell you how sorry we are."

"We should've believed you," Freddie said. "We were completely stupid not to. I-I don't have any excuse for why we didn't."

"Yeah, you _should've_ believe me," Sam spat vehemently. "But I'm done with that now. I don't want to talk. And I'm serious about calling the cops if you don't get out of here."

"Okay, we deserve that," Freddie said. "But Sam, we-we can't forgive ourselves for what we did. We need to try and make this right. Carly and I cost the three of us _twelve years _of friendship. Please just let us try and fix this. Just talk to us for five minutes. Five minutes. That's all. And-And then if you still want us to go away and leave you alone, we-we will."

Sam studied the two of them. Part of her wanted nothing more than to slam the door hard in their faces again. But the other part of her yearned for nothing more than the past, and Carly and Freddie were the closest she would ever be able to get to that.

After a moment's contemplation, Sam let out a deep breath and stepped away from the doorway, no longer blocking the entrance.

"Fine," she said shortly, making sure to keep a firm scowl on her face. "Come in. You have five minutes."

"Thank you," Carly breathed as her and Freddie stepped into the apartment.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you," Sam said, leading the two into the kitchen, where she sat down at the table.

"We know," Freddie said. He was about to sit down next to her, but quickly decided that would be pushing his luck, and sat down across from her instead.

The three sat in silence for a moment, no one quite sure how to start this conversation.

"Sam, we should've believed you," Carly finally spoke up. "I-I know we already said that, but I just want to say it again. I don't know how we couldn't see that before. Maybe we were too set on starting that new chapter of our lives. Maybe-Maybe we didn't fully appreciate our friendship when we had it. But we're so, _so _truly sorry. We mean that."

"We really do," Freddie nodded. "I don't think I've regretted anything more in my life. And I know this is crazy for us to show up at your doorstep at eleven o'clock at night, but…we really needed to tell you that we know we screwed up. We couldn't wait."

Sam looked down at her lap. "I wouldn't have done that…made those fake emails just to keep you from going to college."

"We know that-" Carly began.

"Yeah, maybe _now_," Sam pointed out. "But you should've known it then too. I know I wasn't exactly the nicest person or the sweetest, but did you really think I would've done that? Do you think I would've sat there and ruined your lives?"

"No, we didn't-"

"You obviously did," Sam said harshly.

"We know we messed up, we already said that," Freddie said.

"Sam, after that day…nothing was ever the same," Carly said. "Sure, Freddie and I went off to college, but there was always something missing."

"_Someone_," Freddie added.

"You were my best friend," Carly whispered. "And I just threw that all away. I just want…I just want to go back to that day and stop myself from making the biggest mistake of my life."

"Well you can't," Sam told her.

"We know we can't go back," Freddie said. "But…we _can _start again."

"Oh you _cannot_ be serious," Sam said, shaking her head. "You really think we can just pick up from twelve years ago and go back to being friends?"

"Not right away, no," Freddie replied. "But we can try."

Sam pursed her lips. "Your five minutes are up."

Carly and Freddie exchanged looks and slowly rose from their seats.

"Can we-Can we grab coffee together or something tomorrow?" Carly asked hesitantly. "So we can talk some more."

"We can meet up at noon," Freddie nodded eagerly.

"I'm busy at noon," Sam said simply.

"What about later then?" Carly said quickly. "At three?"

Sam crossed her arms. "I'll think about it."

"Okay, I guess that's fair," Freddie said. "Well then, um, I-I hope we'll see you later."

"Bye, Sam," Carly said softly.

Freddie made to follow Carly out of the kitchen, but stopped and turned back to Sam. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper.

"This is my number," he said, putting it down on the counter. "If, um, you decide to see us tomorrow…give me a call. Or text me. Whichever you like."

Sam said nothing as she watched him follow Carly out of her apartment.

…

"Well," Freddie said as they began heading down the fourteen flights of stairs. "That wasn't exactly the warm, fuzzy reunion we were hoping for."

"I don't think we could've expected anything better," Carly sighed. "I mean, if I was her, I'd be just as mad."

"Yeah," Freddie agreed. "I hope she'll meet us tomorrow though."

"I do too," Carly mumbled. "God…I never would've imagined that I'd be hated by my best friend."

"Join the club," Freddie said.

"I don't want to go back to Seattle unless we've made every effort we can to try and regain our friendship with her," Carly said firmly.

"Hey, I'll be right there with you," Freddie said.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam shifted in the hard, uncomfortable chair that was rested next to Leah's bedside. She had been at the hospital since eight that morning with Leah and even six hours later, the first part of her new treatment still was not completed.

Sam sighed and looked over at her daughter, who was fast asleep in the hospital bed, an IV tube of medication attached to her arm.

When Leah had first started her early treatments, back when she was younger, Sam and the nurses would practically have to hold her down in order to get an IV into her. Now the girl barely blinked when the needle was placed into her arm.

Sam didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

She slowly reached over and took Leah's hand and squeezed it, looking at the fresh coat of nail polish she had on her nails. Leah always painted her nails with complicated designs and patterns while she was bedridden; she claimed it got her mind off of everything. Sometimes she would paint her nails five different times a day.

"She still asleep?" Phil said, coming into the room, adjusting his white doctor's coat as he pulled out a clipboard. "Good. She needs her rest."

"How much longer is she going to have to be here?" Sam asked.

"The administration process for the medication will take at least another two hours," Phil explained. "And since this _is _a trial treatment, we're going to have to keep her here overnight to monitor her progress."

"Overnight?"

"You know that you're more than welcome to stay with her," Phil told her. "I've even talked to the administrative staff and they've agreed to allow Kira to stay as well if you'd like."

Sam gave a small smile. "Thanks, Phil."

"Anyway," Phil said, looking at one of the monitors next to Leah's bed. "Like I said; she'll be hooked up to this IV for at least another couple hours. Why don't you go grab yourself some lunch? I know you've got to be sick of hospital food by now."

"No, if she wakes up I want to be here," Sam said.

"This medication can really knock a person out," Phil said. "I'd say you'd make it back well before she wakes up."

Sam contemplated this offer for a moment. It _would _be nice to grab some food that wasn't free-ranged or organic…

"Will you call me if anything comes up?" Sam asked.

"You'll know the second something happens," Phil promised her.

"Well then…okay," Sam said, getting to her feet. "I'll be back in a little bit."

Sam kissed the top of Leah's sleeping head before walking out of the hospital room.

Once outside, Sam took a moment to breathe in the air, which finally wasn't full of disinfectants. She headed towards her parked car, wondering where she should stop for food. It was then that she remembered Carly and Freddie's offer…

She leaned back in her car seat, deep in thought. Did she want to take them up on that?

Her first instinct was to say no. Why should she go grab something to eat with two people who for the past twelve years were so convinced that she was a lying sneak who tried to ruin their lives for her own selfish gain? She should never speak to them again!

She slowly reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the slip of paper with Freddie's phone number on it. She could almost see the temptation glistening on it.

She knew that she should continue to forget about Carly and Freddie and go on living the rest of her life without them, but seeing those ten digits on that paper made that seem so hard.

_They cut you out of their life for over a decade_, she reminded herself. _They can't expect to just waltz back here and have me forgive them for that. _

_But they also flew across the country to see you, _another voice told her. _Shouldn't you at least give them a chance?_

Sam moaned, resting her head on the steering wheel.

And then, before she could talk herself out of it, Sam grabbed her phone and quickly dialed Freddie's number.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"I'm going to get lunch at the sandwich place on the corner of Kings Point and Marks Street," she said simply. "If you want to talk, meet me there. You know where it is?"

"Um, we'll find it," Freddie answered. "Thanks for calling me, Sam."

"I'm not going to wait around that place," Sam said firmly. "I'm eating and then I'm leaving. I have stuff to do."

And with that she hung up and began to drive.

She reached the sandwich shop a few moments later and stepped inside.

"Sam! Over here!"

She turned and saw Freddie sitting at a small booth.

_How'd he get here so fast? _Sam wondered.

"Well, guess you found the place," she commented coldly, sliding into the seat across from him.

"The hotel we're staying at is right down the street," Freddie explained.

Sam nodded. She looked at the empty seat next to him. "Did she come?"

"Carly's in the bathroom," Freddie replied.

"Oh," Sam said. "Well, um, I'm going to go order-"

"I-I already ordered for you," Freddie said quickly. "I got you the bacon melt, extra bacon. I don't know if that's what you were going to order, but it sounded like something that you would like-"

"It wasn't," Sam said, though she had been thinking about biting into that exact sandwich the whole drive over. But she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "But I guess I'll eat it anyway."

"Sam," Carly said, coming out of the restrooms and sitting down next to Freddie. "Hi. Um, thanks-thanks for meeting us."

Sam gave her a small nod, but said nothing.

She studied the two of them for a moment.

_I wonder if they're still close, _she thought to herself. _I wonder if they managed to stay the same as they were in high school or did they grow apart in college and become those friends who only talk a few times a year. _

Then she noticed just _how _close the two of them were sitting.

_Or maybe they became something more_, Sam thought. She didn't know why, but for some reason, the idea that Carly and Freddie may now be a couple made her even more unwilling to be with them than before.

"So," Sam said, because her curiosity had gotten the best of her. "You two like, together now?"

"No," Freddie said quickly. "No, we-we're not."

"We're just friends," Carly said.

"Ah," Sam nodded, her tight grip on her bag loosening slightly. She looked down at her lap. "So, um, you guys said you wanted to talk. So…talk."

"R-Right," Carly said. "Look, Sam, we told you last night. We made a huge mistake twelve years ago. A _terrible _mistake. We should've believed you but instead we cut you out of our lives. We're so sorry, though. I just need to know, though. Is there…is there anyway that you can _begin _to forgive us?"

Sam bit her lip.

"We don't blame you if you don't," Freddie said heavily. "We screwed up big time. We get that. But the three of us…we used to be so great together. I just don't want to throw that all away for good. We already lost twelve years."

Sam looked up. "I don't know," she said honestly.

She saw Carly and Freddie's faces fall a bit.

"Oh," Carly whispered. "Well, um, okay. I understand."

Sam sighed. "How long are you here until?"

Carly and Freddie exchanged glances.

"We don't really have to leave anytime soon," Freddie said. "So I guess until…we're ready."

"Don't you guys work?" Sam frowned.

"Yes," Carly nodded. "But we both have a ton of vacation days that our bosses have been begging us to use up, so we cashed them all in to come here."

"Oh," Sam said.

Freddie looked right into Sam's eyes; his brown orbs locking with her blue ones. "Hey, how about this? You give us a week. One week, that's it. And at the end of the week, if you still can't forgive us, Carly and I will go right back to Seattle. And if you decide that you can…well, we'll figure out where to go from that point."

Sam pondered this. It _did _sound like a pretty good idea…After all, as mad as she was at Freddie and Carly still, she had to admit that it _would _be nice to have the same connection she had with them in high school.

Sam took a deep breath. "Okay," she agreed as a server brought out their sandwiches. "You have one week."

Freddie tried to contain the wide grin that was creeping on his face, but he was doing a poor job of it. "Perfect," he breathed.

"Thank you, Sam," Carly said. "I know we don't deserve it."

"Yeah, no kidding," Sam said under her breath, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"So, um, maybe we should start this whole thing out by telling each other a little bit of what's happened during the last twelve years," Freddie said, clearing his throat. "You know, catch up a little?"

"Good idea," Carly nodded. She turned to Sam. "So you're a cop now?"  
Sam frowned. "How do you know that?"

"It…It sort of came up while we were tracking you down," Freddie admitted sheepishly. "But, um, that-that's sort of…unexpected. I didn't know you were interested in becoming a cop."

"First of all, I'm a _detective_," Sam corrected. "I don't have to wear that gross uniform anymore. And second…it wasn't exactly my first choice for a job. But, you know, there aren't that many jobs I could get with out a college diploma that paid decent cash, so I figured my best bet was to go into the police academy."

"Do you like it?" Carly asked.

Sam shrugged. "I get to beat people up sometimes…that's a plus," she mumbled.

Freddie gave a small smile. At least he knew one thing about her hadn't changed.

"What about you?" Sam asked, her mouth full of sandwich.

"I'm an editor for the make-up section of _Catwalk,_" Carly answered.

"That big fashion magazine?"

"Uh-huh," Carly nodded. "It's…It's a pretty good set-up, I guess. I get free samples sometimes."

Sam turned to Freddie. "And you?"

"I'm a developer for Pear Company," Freddie responded.

"Whoa," Sam couldn't help but utter. "Um, well, that-that's a pretty big deal, I guess."

"It's alright," Freddie shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't really have to go into the office too much; I can email a lot of my programs into work which is a plus, sort of."

Just then Sam's cellphone began to ring. She looked down at the caller ID and saw that it was Phil.

Praying that nothing had happened with Leah, Sam quickly answered the phone, preparing for the worst. "Hello?"

"Nothing's wrong," Phil said at once, as though he could read Sam's mind. "I just wanted to let you know that Leah just woke up and is doing fine right now."

"Okay," Sam said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll be back there in a second."

"No rush," Phil told her. "But I'll see you in a bit."

"Bye," Sam replied, hanging up her phone. She stuffed the last bit of her bacon sandwich in her mouth and then grabbed a piece of gum from her bag so that Leah wouldn't be able to smell the scent of the forbidden meat on her breath.

"Right, well, I've got to go," Sam said, getting to her feet. "Um, thanks for the sandwich."

"Anytime," Freddie said. "Hey, so do-do you want to meet again tomorrow? Maybe in the afternoon?"

"Tomorrow afternoon I'm busy," Sam said. "I've got a movie date."

"What about dinner then?" Carly suggested. "The hotel we're staying at has a really nice restaurant we could eat at."

"Whatever," Sam shrugged. "I guess I'll see you then."

"Okay," Carly nodded eagerly. "Bye."

Her and Freddie watched as Sam left the sandwich shop.

"Well, I'd say we made some progress today," Carly said, looking over at Freddie. "I still think she's mad at us, but that's not surprising."

"Huh? Oh…yeah," Freddie mumbled. He hadn't been listening to what Carly was saying; his mind was fixated on the last thing Sam had said.

_She has a date_. Freddie thought numbly to himself. _She has a date. _


	8. Chapter 8

Sam yawned as she trudged up the fourteen flights of stairs the next morning. She had a sleeping Leah in her arms (Phil had been right when he said that the medication would knock anybody out; Leah had been drifting in and out of sleep for the past several hours) and Kira was right behind her. The family had spent the night at the hospital, which meant that Kira and Sam spent the night trying to get comfortable in the rock hard hospital chairs.

"Alright, Kira, if I were you, I'd go try to get a few hours of real sleep," Sam said once they reached their apartment. "The movie starts at one, so you have some time."

"Okay," Kira nodded.

Sam followed her into her bedroom, lying Leah down on her bed next to Kira's.

"Hey mom?" Kira asked as she climbed into her bed.

"Yeah?"

"Guess what I snagged off a food cart before we left the hospital." She reached into her bag and pulled out two chocolate pudding cups.

Whenever Sam and Kira would have to spend the night at the hospital, the two of them would always joke that only food the place served that was actually edible were the chocolate pudding cups. Kira would always laugh as she watched her mother 'persuade' the nurse handing out meals to give them extra pudding.

Sam smiled. "Nice work, kid."

"Figured I might as well get _something _out of that hospital stay," Kira shrugged, lying down in her bed.

Sam rustled her hair. "That's the spirit."

….

Freddie sighed as he sat on the couch of his and Carly's hotel room, his eyes glued to some television program that he wasn't following in the slightest.

Ever since him, Carly and Sam had parted yesterday, only one thing had been circling his mind: She had a date.

He couldn't explain why, not even to himself, but that idea irked him to no end.

He knew what anyone would say if he would tell them his problem; obviously he liked her.

But how could that be? He hadn't seen Sam in twelve years. You can't just meet up with a person after that long and right away have feelings for her. It was completely absurd. No one falls for someone that quickly; all that garbage only happened in movies.

Maybe he was just confusing these feelings. Perhaps what he was really feeling was simply the desire to win back Sam as a _friend. _

That definitely made much more sense. He wasn't upset about the idea of Sam having a date because he was jealous. He was upset because this date was taking away time that he could be using to try and win Sam back into his life.

_Besides_, Freddie told himself. _She could've been dating this mystery date for years now and be absolutely in love with him. Heck, she could be __**married **__to him!_

_But she wasn't wearing a ring…_another voice in his head told him.

Freddie shook his head. This was stupid. He _should _be figuring out what he was going to do for dinner tonight with Sam and Carly.

"Um, Carly?" Freddie said, getting the attention of the brunette, who was sitting on her bed, sending a few emails into work.

"Yeah?" Carly asked, looking up.

"You think Sam will really come tonight?"

Carly put down her laptop. "Well…she _said _she'd come. I _hope _she comes."

"Do you think she'll bring that date of hers?"

"The one she's taking to the movies this afternoon?" Carly shrugged. "Maybe…if she wants. I mean, we're not exactly in a position to tell her no, are we?"

"No," Freddie agreed.

"So I'm thinking we eat dinner downstairs," Carly said. "And then maybe we can come back up here with her and watch some movies or something. I, um, packed a few that I thought she'd like."

She reached into her nearby bag and pulled out a few DVD's. "_Boogiebear_, _Revenge of the Rampaging Llamas_, and _Sir, Where did you Park my Automobile._ They were her favorite in high school."

"Cool," Freddie said. He turned back to the T.V.

_See, that's the stuff you need to be worrying about, _Freddie told himself firmly. _Getting back into Sam's good book with things like that. Not obsessing about who she's on a date with…_"

And then, before Freddie could even think twice, he quickly got to his feet and grabbed his jacket.

"Hey, where are you going?" Carly asked.

"Um, out," Freddie said. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"Alright," Carly said as Freddie closed the door behind him.

Now all he had to do was figure out where the movie theatre was in this crazy city.

…

"So if anyone asks, you're seventeen remember?" Sam mumbled to Kira as they stepped into the movie lobby. "A really short seventeen-year old."

"My first rated R movie," Kira said excitedly. "You think this movie will have a ton of guts flying all over the place?"

"Well the movie's called _Zombie Brain Eaters_," Sam pointed out. "So there's bound to be some gore."

"Cool," Kira grinned.

"Here, we have about a half-hour before the movie starts," Sam said, nodding over to a small, empty bench. "Let's sit for a little."

"I can't wait to tell everybody at school I got to see this movie," Kira said as the two sat down. "Everyone will be so jealous."

"I take it I'll be getting another one of 'those calls' again," Sam sighed. "Guess I should be used to them by now…So how _is _school, kid. No more suspensions?"

"No," Kira said. "I got a B on my science test."

"Nice," Sam said, high-fiving her.

"And next week my history teacher said we're going on some lame field trip to the museum," Kira continued. "And the cafeteria replaced their chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal ones which sort of sucks. Oh, and there's some father-daughter dance at school next Friday."

Sam frowned. "Oh?"

"Yeah, but, um, it sounds pretty stupid," Kira said quickly.

"Those things always are," Sam said quickly. "They used to have them all the time when I was in school and I never went either."

"You should hear how stupid half the girls in my class sound freaking out about the thing," Kira scoffed. "Worrying about what dress they're going to wear or how they're going to do their hair…totally dumb."

"Totally," Sam agreed, giving her daughter a small smile. She opened her purse and pulled out a few bills. "Hey, why don't you go get us some snacks from the concession stand. Mama's got a craving for some extra-butter popcorn."

"Sure," Kira said, taking the bills and heading over to the stand.

_Poor kid_, Sam thought as she watched her go. She hadn't been fooled by Kira's attempts to play off the school dance; she knew she really wanted to go.

Unfortunately, that was completely out of the question.

The twins had only known their father for three years of their lives, and in Sam's opinion, that was three years too long.

There was no doubt in her mind about that.

Sam had met Marshall a few days after she had moved to the city. She was living out of a cheap motel, the only place she could afford at the time, and Sam happened to meet him as she was going from store to store, applying for jobs.

She had been instantly lured in by his charm and the fact that she was all alone, and his was the first friendly face she had seen.

When they first got together, Sam was convinced that with him, she could start a new life and never have to think twice about what she left behind in Seattle. She enrolled in the police academy and even though she was told that she couldn't become an active duty officer until she was 21, she was able to land a desk job at the precinct once she graduated.

That deal actually wound up working perfectly, because two weeks after she graduated, Sam found out she was pregnant.

When Sam told Marshall the news, she expected him to be just as excited as she was. Instead, she got quite a different response…

"_Marshall," Sam had smiled, greeting her boyfriend as she walked into their tiny studio apartment. "You'll never guess what I found out today." _

"_Huh?" Marshall said, not looking up from the television show he was watching. He took a swing of the bottle he had been drinking from. _

_Sam picked up the remote and turned off the T.V. _

"_Hey!" Marshall exclaimed angrily. "What are you doing? I was watching that."_

"_I need to tell you something," Sam said, sitting down on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. _

"_What?" _

_Sam's face broke into a grin. "I'm pregnant." _

_Marshall stared at her blankly. _

"_You know," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "With a baby. __**Your **__baby."_

_Marshall blinked. "W-What?" _

"_Aren't you excited?" Sam asked. "We're going to have a baby."_

"_I-No," Marshall said, shaking his head. "We can't have a kid!" _

"_Well it's a little late for that," Sam frowned, put off by his less-than-enthusiastic response. _

"_Hon, what-what were you thinking?" Marshall asked, getting to his feet, beginning to pace back and forth. _

"_What was __**I **__thinking?" Sam demanded. _

"_How could you let this happen?" _

"_Um, excuse me, but I believe it takes __**two **__people to make a baby," Sam pointed out, crossing her arms. _

"_Well you should've been more careful!" Marshall yelled. "Why weren't you on the pill? How could you have been this stupid?" _

_Sam didn't reply. _

"_How the hell are we supposed to keep some kid in this place, huh?" Marshall asked, his voice rising. "Where are we going to put the crib? Out on the balcony?" _

"_We could put it here in the living room for now," Sam said softly. "And-And maybe we could start looking for a bigger place." _

_Marshall let out a dry laugh. "Yeah? With what money?"_

"_I-I have some cash in the bank," Sam said. "And once I get a few more paychecks and you-"_

"_That's not going to work!" Marshall screamed. _

_Sam looked over on the couch and saw three empty bottles lying there. _

"_Marshall, you're drunk," she mumbled. _

"_I'm not drunk!" Marshall bellowed, and Sam could smell the alcohol on his breath. _

"_Just-Just go to bed," Sam said, stepping away from him. "Sleep this off." _

"_Get rid of it," Marshall said quietly. _

_Sam stared at him. "What?" _

"_Get rid of it," he repeated, pointing at her stomach. _

"_I-No!" Sam cried. "I'm not getting rid of my baby!" _

"_Get rid of the damn thing or I'll get rid of it for you!" Marshall shouted, spit flying onto Sam's face. _

_**He's drunk, he's not himself**__, Sam told herself. _

"_Do it," Marshall said, grabbing his keys and heading towards the door of the apartment. "Or you'll be sorry." _

_Marshall didn't come back that night, and Sam fell asleep on the couch, curled up in a small ball, tears falling onto her face. _

_It had been the first time she had cried since she moved to New York. It had taken all she had not to break down that first night she spent in the roach-infested motel. But she had held it together then, and had been convinced that she really could handle anything this city could throw at her. _

_Except for this. _

_Marshall returned the next morning, eyes red and bloodshot, but sober. _

"_Sweetheart," he said gently, lightly shaking Sam's shoulder. "Are you awake?" _

_Sam slowly stirred and sat up, jerking her shoulder away from his hand. "Don't touch me," she said. _

"_Sam, I'm so, __**so **__sorry about last night," he told her. "I didn't mean anything that came out of my mouth. You know that." _

"_Please," Sam scoffed. _

"_Come on, baby, you know I was drunk," Marshall said, taking her hand. "I wasn't thinking straight. It was the alcohol talking, not me. I-I don't want you to get rid of this baby. In fact…" he placed his hand on Sam's abdomen. "I don't think I've been anymore excited about anything in my life."_

_Sam didn't say anything. _

"_Hey," Marshall whispered, putting his arm around her. "I love you. You're my entire world. You know that, don't you?" _

_Sam looked up at him. "Yeah," she said quietly._

_Marshall smiled and placed a kiss on her lips. "I knew you'd understand. And look! I bought this for the baby!" _

_He handed Sam a small bag. She reached in a pulled out a tiny red bib that read 'I love my Mommy'._

"_It's so cute," Sam said. _

"_Only the best for this little one," Marshall said. "And you're right; we should move from this dump. We'll get a bigger place and then once this baby is born, we'll start our perfect little family. I promise." _

Perfect little family? Yeah, right.

The experience had been far from perfect. To this day, Sam was still furious with herself for allowing that man to reel her in. She was convinced if she just had half a brain in her head that she would've seen through his act, and he wouldn't have gotten to take so much from her.

Sam's hand unconsciously went up to her left shoulder where her scar still remained, the pain still very much present, even after all these years.

…..

Freddie walked through the crowded movie theatre, craning his neck, hoping to catch sight of Sam's blonde head.

_This is stupid, _Freddie told himself. _What am I doing? Am I really here to try and spy on Sam during her date?_

The whole idea was completely ridiculous, really. First of all, he didn't even know if he was in the right theatre! He had found the address of the one closest to Sam's apartment and decided that was his best bet, but if she was on a date, maybe she went to a different theatre. And he didn't even know what time she was supposed to be at whichever theatre she was going to! All he knew was that she had said she was going in the afternoon. And of course, if Sam caught him spying on her…

He shook his head. No. It wasn't worth it. He wasn't going to risk throwing away what little progress he had made with Sam away. He was going to go back to the hotel and focus on preparing for their dinner tonight. That was more important.

He turned to head out of the theatre lobby when suddenly he caught sight of her.

She was sitting down, staring off into space.

_I don't see anybody with her_, Freddie frowned. _Where's this date of hers?_

Freddie stopped walking and took a moment to just stare at her. She really didn't look too different from when she was in Seattle. Her hair was a little shorter and she looked more…mature, but she was still easily recognizable as the girl who used to grill steaks in her locker at school.

Freddie snapped out of his daze. He had to get out of here before Sam saw him and he had to figure out some way to explain what he was doing here.

But just as Freddie was about to continue on his way out, Sam turned her head slightly and her eyes were suddenly locked with his, and Freddie knew she had spotted him.

He couldn't leave now.

So slowly, trying to think up _some _excuse to explain his presence, Freddie walked over to her.

"H-Hey," Freddie smiled. "I totally forgot you said you were going to be at the movies this afternoon!"

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Oh, well, you know, I was sort of craving some popcorn," Freddie said lamely. "And the hotel only has that sweet kind that I don't like so, um, I figured where else would I get some popcorn?"

"You came all the way to the movies for popcorn?" Sam frowned.

"Well, um, I was pretty hungry," Freddie laughed sheepishly.

"You could've just gone to the store," Sam pointed out. "They _do _sell the stuff."  
"Good idea," Freddie nodded. "Wish I would've thought of that sooner. But, um, I guess I just didn't-"

"The lady at the snack stand gave us three extra squirts of butter," a young, blonde child said suddenly, heading over to Sam's side. "And I bought some Choco Balls and-" she stopped talking when she caught sight of Freddie.

"Um, h-hello," Freddie said, a bit confused.

"Hi?" the girl frowned. She looked up at Sam. "Who's he?"

"Um, Kira, this is Freddie," Sam said a bit awkwardly. "Freddie, this is Kira…my daughter."

_Her __**daughter?**_Freddie thought to himself, his eyes widening. _She has a __**daughter**__?_

"Oh, well, nice-nice to meet you," Freddie said quickly to the girl. He turned to Sam. "So she's your movie date then?"

"Yup," Sam nodded.

"We're seeing _Zombie Brain Eaters_," Kira said happily. "It's rated 'R' and everything."

"Ah, well, that sounds fun," Freddie said, clearing his throat. "Glad to see your movie preferences haven't changed, Sam."

Sam gave a small smile, but said nothing.

"Right, um, I guess I won't keep you from your zombies anymore," Freddie said. "I'll just be going. Good-Good to meet you, Kira. Um, bye, Sam."

"See you tonight," Sam said.

"T-Tonight?"

"I thought you, Carly and I were supposed to get dinner at your hotel," Sam replied. "Unless you guys changed your mind and-"

"No!" Freddie exclaimed. "No, I just forgot for a second. I'll definitely see you tonight."

"Okay then," Sam nodded.

Freddie turned and hurried out of the lobby.

_She wasn't on an actual date, _Freddie thought joyfully to himself as he pulled out his phone to call a cab to take him back to the hotel. _She was here with her daughter!_

But the euphoria that he felt was very short lived as realization came crashing down on him.

_If she has a daughter_, he thought slowly. _That means she's probably married_.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Caleb," Sam said as her and Kira returned home from the movie that afternoon.

"Hey," Caleb replied, looking up from the game of cards he was playing with Leah on the couch. "You guys have fun?"

"Yeah, seeing zombies chasing around villagers and eating their brains is always a fun time," Sam shrugged. "Thanks again for watching Leah. Mrs. Fisher had to get fitted for new dentures."

"No problem, I only got creamed in twelve rounds of slap jack," Caleb said.

"Thirteen," Leah grinned.

"Well, I stand corrected," Caleb laughed. "Oh, and I was gonna have run by here later. I have to have you sign some forms."

"Ugh, _more _paperwork?" Sam groaned. "I swear, we spend about ten percent of our time actually chasing down criminals and the rest of the time filling out things!"

"Relax, I just need you to initial a few things on the Growski file since you were the arresting officer," Caleb said.

"Fine," Sam said, taking the forms from her partner.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning at work, right?" Caleb asked.

"Yup, I think if I asked for another day off, Williamson would have my neck," Sam said, handing the papers back to Caleb.

"Probably," Caleb agreed. "I think I would too. You realize they partner me up with Gaffers when you're gone. That guy's the most conceited, egotistical moron I've ever met."

"Oh God," Sam cringed.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow then," Caleb said. "Bye girls."

"Bye Uncle Caleb," the responded simultaneously.

"How as the movie?" Leah asked as Caleb let himself out.

"So good," Kira said. "The zombies looked totally real. Oh, and guess what? I got to see mom's boyfriend!"

"Mom has a boyfriend?" Leah exclaimed.

"What?" Sam frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"His name is Freddie," Kira continued, ignoring her mother's comment. "And him and mom are going on a date tonight."

"We are not!" Sam said. "And he's not my boyfriend, Kira."

"But you said you were going to dinner with him tonight," Kira pointed out.

"Yes, but there will be another person there," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "It's just three…acquaintances going out to eat."

"What's an acquaintance?" Kira asked.

"A friend," Leah replied.

"No, not a friend," Sam said quickly. "Just people who I will be talking to while I eat."

"Since when does mom have friends?" Kira scoffed.

"Hey!" Sam defended. "I have friends."

"Just Uncle Caleb," Kira giggled. "When did you make new friends, mom?"

"They're acquaintances!" Sam emphasized. "And I, um, knew them back when I lived in Seattle."

"Then why are they here?" Leah asked.

"Um, I guess they wanted to…catch up," Sam replied.

"Yeah, and now mom's all excited because she gets to see her boyfriend again," Kira grinned.

"For the last time, he's _not _my boyfriend!" Sam exclaimed.

"Was he cute?" Leah asked her sister.

"I took some pics," Kira said, pulling out her phone.

"You _what_?" Sam frowned.

"Relax, he didn't see me," Kira said quickly. "I took them while he was walking away." She showed Leah her phone.

"Hey, is pretty cute," Leah said, scrolling through the pics. "Nice work, mom."

"No, not nice work, because he's _not my boyfriend_!" Sam said, shaking her head as she headed off into the kitchen, her daughters both still giggling.

Sam opened up the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

She wondered how her daughters would react if they actually found out her and Freddie _did _date for a month, back in high school. She'd probably never hear the end of it.

_Does he even __**remember **__that? _Sam thought to herself.

There was no way she was going to bring that up to him, though. How ridiculous would she look is she started talking to him about things like that two days after she saw him for the first time in twelve years?

_He __**is **__probably the most decent guy I've dated still_, Sam told herself.

She supposed that was saying something for her dating choices, considering how long it had been since her and Freddie broke up. But it seemed that every man she had been with in New York wound up being a loser. Some worse than others…

_He's probably got a girlfriend_, Sam said, shrugging as she began to sip her water. After all, Freddie wasn't exactly _hideous_, he had a great job and he actually treated the girls he dated with respect.

She thought back to their brief relationship. True, they had spent a good deal of time arguing, but Freddie still never hurt her in any way. Well, at least until that night in the elevator, when they broke up.

"Hey mom?" Kira said, walking into the kitchen and snapping Sam out of her thoughts. "Guess what. Leah put your name and Freddie's name into that love calculator app she has on her phone and you guys are 94 percent compatible."

"Okay, that's it!" Sam said. "Next person who mentions Freddie's name is grounded!"

…..

"So," Carly said as Freddie walked back into their hotel. "Did you have fun on your little adventure? Let me guess, you just couldn't resist going down to that giant Pear Store across the street and out-teching all the workers at the Brilliance Bar and-"

"You know Sam has a daughter?" Freddie blurted out.

Carly blinked. "_What_?"

"I, um, ran into her at the movie theatre and saw her with a girl," Freddie said. "You know how she said she had a movie date yesterday? She was taking her _daughter _out."

"Why were you at the movies?" Carly frowned.

"Um, I wanted popcorn," Freddie said quickly. "But um, her daughter's name is Kira."

"Kira…" Carly repeated. "Wow, I-I can't believe she has a daughter. How old was she?"

"I'd say around ten," Freddie replied.

To his surprise, Carly looked down at her feet, a few tears landing on her lap.

"Um, are you okay?" Freddie asked.

"It's just…I always imagined that when me and Sam had our first kids, we'd sort of, you know, be like a second mom to them," Carly said softly. "I'd be Aunt Carly, she'd be Aunt Sam. And look at me, she had a kid for ten years and I didn't even know anything about her."

"Well, Carly…" Freddie said gently, comforting his friend. "It-It's not too late. There's still a chance that you can get to know Sam's daughter."

"I know," Carly sniffed. "It's just…seeing Sam again has really shown me what I've been missing out on all these years. How could I have thrown away my best friend, Freddie? _How_? I keep going over it in my head and I-I don't know how I could've not believed her twelve years ago."

"You weren't the only one," Freddie reminded her. "And Carly…you have to stop beating yourself up, okay? You and I both made mistakes, but we're here now, and we're going to try our hardest to fix everything. And if we can't…well, at-at least we know we tried."

Carly didn't reply.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Freddie said. "You want me to make you some coffee or something?"

"No, I'm fine," Carly mumbled.

Freddie nodded and headed into the bathroom.

Carly let herself fall onto the sofa.

_Things should be different_, Carly thought miserably to herself.


	10. Chapter 10

Sam bit her lip as she stared at her closet. She didn't exactly own a high-end wardrobe. Her attire consisted mainly of jeans and pants and simple shirts. She had a pretty physical job, after all, and it was pretty tough to chase down criminals wearing a skirt.

She did have a few dresses, but did she want to wear one tonight? She knew the hotel Carly and Freddie were staying at was a pretty fancy place. Heck, it was one of the top hotels in the city. The restaurant was bound to be high end. She sighed as she grabbed all of her dresses and headed out to the living room.

"Alright, Ms. Fashionista," Sam said, plopping the dresses down next to Leah, who was laying down on the couch, watching T.V. "Which dress should I wear?"

"You're wearing a dress for your date?" Leah asked excitedly.

"It's not a date!"

"Then why are you getting dressed up?" Leah grinned.

"Because I would like to not get thrown out of the only fancy pants restaurant I've been to since I moved here before I've even gotten a chance to shove any food in my mouth," Sam explained. "So, um, which one do you think I should wear tonight?"

"Hmm," Leah said thoughtfully, studying the options. "Definitely not this weird black one. Or this blue one with the crazy sleeves. Oh, and _this one _wouldn't look good on anyone."

"So basically none of my dresses then?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes.

"This one is nice," Leah said, pointing to a dark red one. "Just wear it with your gold heels. _Not _those black flats you always wear."

"Alright," Sam nodded.

"Can I do your nails for your date-I mean dinner?" Leah asked.

Sam smiled. "Sure."

"Awesome!" Leah said, grabbing her large shoebox of nail polish that she had sitting next to her.

"Nothing pink," Sam said. "And no glitter."

"Just a little bit of glitter?" Leah pleaded.

"Fine," Sam conceded.

"I saw this really cool pattern in a magazine," Leah said, riffling through the nail polish bottles. "It will look really nice in red and-"

Suddenly she broke out in a coughing fit and grabbed her side.

"Hey, Leah, you okay?" Sam asked, concerned, quickly putting her hands on her daughter. "Where does it hurt?"

"My-My side a little," Leah said softly, holding her left side. The side with her remaining kidney.

"I'm calling the doctor," Sam said, making to get to her feet.

"No, mom, I'm okay!" Leah said quickly. "It-It doesn't hurt anymore. I think I just got something caught in my throat that made me cough and that's what made my side hurt. And see," she showed her mom the inside of her palm that she had used to cover her mouth during her coughing fit. "No blood. So it's not a big deal."

"I-I don't know," Sam said slowly. "Maybe I should call and cancel on dinner tonight and take you in to see Phil just to be sure."

"No!" Leah begged. "Go to dinner! I'm totally fine, mom, I promise."

"I-Okay," Sam finally agreed. "But Mrs. Fisher will be watching you, and I'm telling her to call me the second you cough or sneeze or anything."

"You're so paranoid," Leah said, taking Sam's hand and beginning to paint her nails.

"Only 'cause I love you, kid."

….

"Alright, do I go tie or no tie?" Freddie asked Carly, poking his head out of his room.

"I dunno," Carly said, running a brush through her hair as she checked her reflection in the mirror that hung by the front door of the hotel. "Whatever you want."

"I'll go tie," Freddie decided, stepping out of his room. "Now which color. Red or blue, Carly?"

"Dude, you've never cared in the _slightest _about ties or tie color or anything," Carly frowned. "Why are you freaking out now?"

"I just-I would just like to look nice for our dinner," Freddie said. "Is that a crime?"

"No…" Carly said slowly.

"So can you just pick a color?" Freddie asked.

"Okay, blue," Carly said.

"Thank you," Freddie said, relieved, beginning to put on the tie.

"Um, so you just want to look nice for _dinner_ you said?" Carly asked, watching Freddie from the corner of the mirror.

"Yeah?" Freddie nodded.

"No other reason?"

"What are you saying?" Freddie frowned.

Carly turned around. "Freddie…you looked like you got slapped in the face when you thought Sam had a date the other day, you went to try and _spy _on her on said date, _don't _pull that lame popcorn excuse again, and now you've spent over an hour figuring out what wear for our dinner with her."

Freddie crossed his arms. "Your point?"

"My point is…" Carly began, fiddling with her necklace. She shook her head. "Never mind. Look, we should just go head down to the restaurant. Sam should be there any minute."

…

_Whoa, this place really __**is **__fancy, _Sam thought to herself as she walked into the restaurant. She felt out of place just walking in.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" a served said to Sam.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Do you have a reservation?"

"Oh, um, I'm supposed to meet people here," Sam replied. "I don't know where they-"

"Sam!" Carly said, hurrying over to the blonde. "Hi, glad-glad you could make it. We've already got a table in the back." She turned to the server. "She's with us."

"Fancy place," Sam commented as she followed Carly through the restaurant.

"It's supposed to be really good," Carly said. "Filet minion, lobster, duck…the works. Hey, I-I love your dress."

"Oh, thanks," Sam said as they reached the small table where Freddie was sitting.

"Hi, Sam," Freddie smiled. "Wow, you look…great."

"Whoa, did you do your nails like that yourself or did you have them done at a salon?" Carly asked, staring down at Sam's hands. "I've never seen anything like that. And I work at a fashion magazine."

"Oh, my-my daughter did them for me, actually," Sam admitted. "She's into that stuff."

"Kira, right?" Freddie said. "I-I told Carly about her."

"Actually, I sort of have two daughters," Sam told them. "Leah's the one who did my nails."

"You have _two _daughters?" Freddie asked, shocked. It had been a surprise enough to learn that Sam had _one _child.

"Any sons?" Carly asked, in a tone that may have suggested she was joking, but maybe not.

Sam shook her head. "Nope. Just those two."

"Wow," Carly breathed. "That's-that's…well, I-congratulations. Er, I-I guess that's a little late, but better late than never, right?"

"Sure," Sam agreed. "So you two have any kids?"

Carly and Freddie shook their heads.

"I barely have time to _date_ with my job," Carly sighed. "Let alone start a family."

"And I guess just haven't…met the right person," Freddie said.

Sam nodded.

_You don't always have to meet the right person_, Sam thought to herself.

"Do you have any pictures of the girls?" Carly asked suddenly. "I'd love to see them."

"Yeah," Sam replied, pulling out her phone. She pulled up a picture of the girls she had taken a few months ago and passed it to Carly.

"Kira's the one on the right," Sam told her. "Leah's the one on the left."

"They're beautiful," Carly said, staring down at the picture.

"How old are they?" Freddie asked, also looking down at the picture.

"They just turned eleven in August."

"Both of them?" Freddie inquired.

"Well they're twins, that's sort of how it works," Sam shrugged.

"Twins?" Freddie repeated. "Oh, I didn't know they were twins. I thought-"

"Everyone always thinks Kira's older than Leah," Sam said knowingly. "But they're the same age. Leah's just…she's small for her age. If you want to get technical, Leah's actually five minutes older than Kira, which is the ironic part."

"Yeah…ironic," Freddie said lamely. He picked up his fork and absentmindedly began to twirl it around with his fingers, trying to figure out how to ask the question he so desperately wanted to ask.

"So," Freddie said. "Looks like you've got a nice little family going for you. Mom, kids…dad."

Sam looked down at her lap. "Nah," she said softly. "I'm not exactly…_with_ their dad anymore."

Freddie could practically feel his heart skip a beat.

"Oh," Carly said gently. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," Sam said darkly. She took a sip from her glass in front of her. "Hey," she said abruptly, thinking of a question that she had on her mind for the past few years. "How's Spencer doing?"

"He's alright," Carly told her.

"He still a sculptor?"

"Yup," Carly nodded. "He actually got a real job about five years ago."

"Really? Spencer got a _job_?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"He's an art teacher," Freddie explained. "He loves it, he says."

"Seems like the perfect gig for him," Sam said. "I always meant to call him up sometime…but I figured he wouldn't want to talk to me. Figured he probably believed what you guys did."

"I don't think he did," Freddie said honestly.

"He probably would've wanted to come with us here," Carly said. "But he's actually in Africa right now, working with some charity organization that uses art to help kids."

"Whoa, since when is he Mr. Humanitarian?" Sam asked.

"His wife's really involved in those sorts of things," Carly explained.

Sam nearly choked on her drink. "He's _married_?"

Even though she hadn't seen Spencer in years, she still pictured him as Carly's goofy, immature older brother who was a giant kid at heart.

"Yup, for three years," Carly nodded.

"Crazy," Sam said softly. "I would've never imagined him married."

"We didn't exactly imagine you as a cop with two kids," Freddie pointed out.

Sam gave a small laugh; the first laugh he heard from her since they reunited. "No, I guess you wouldn't."

As the night went on, Sam actually began to enjoy herself. She found it sort of…nice, catching up with them. There were even a few times during the meal when Sam almost forgot that she was supposed to still have a grudge against them. It almost felt like old times again.

"So Sam," Carly laughed as the three finished off their deserts. "I've always heard stories about how crazy the people are in New York. Is that true?"

"Pfft, definitely," Sam nodded. "Last week I had to arrest this one guy for trying to steal another guys pants. Off his body. In the middle of street."

"I would've paid to see that," Freddie chuckled. He watched Sam laugh again, and it felt like music to his ears. Then his eyes fell onto her left shoulder, where there was a long, thin scar. "What happened to your shoulder?" he blurted out suddenly, before he could stop himself.

"Freddie!" Carly hissed under her breath, giving him a look.

"I, um, I got it from work," Sam told him, not meeting his gaze. "Eight years ago."

Freddie got the sense that Sam didn't want to talk about the subject anymore, so he quickly changed topics.

"Well, I'm stuffed," Freddie announced, pushing his plate away. "How about we head back up to our room and watch a movie or something. Carly brought _Boogiebear_."

"No way!" Sam grinned. "I haven't seen that movie in years!"

"So you in?" Carly asked excitedly.

_I __**should **__probably get home, it's sort of late, _Sam told herself. _And I have to be at work by eight tomorrow…_

"Sure," Sam nodded. "I'm in."


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey, Caleb," Sam yawned the next morning, heading over to her desk, passing him one of the coffees in her hand.

"Tired?" Caleb asked.

"A little, yeah," Sam nodded.

"So," Caleb said, smiling. "Would you like to explain these texts I got from Kira and Leah last night?"

"What texts?" Sam frowned.

Caleb pulled out his phone. "This one's from Leah. It says, 'Hey, my mom actually has a date tonight. Can you believe it?'"

"Oh my God," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"And this one's from Kira," Caleb continued. "'Mom's actually wearing a dress and heels for some dude.'"

"They're so grounded," Sam mumbled.

"So how was the date?"

"It wasn't a date!" Sam hissed. "There were _three _people there. The last time I checked, at date consisted of _two_!"

"But did you wear a dress?"

"That's irrelevant!"

"Well fine, who were these _two _people you went to dinner with?" Caleb asked.

"Just some people I knew back when I lived in Seattle," Sam said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Uh-huh," Caleb smirked.

"Puckett! Jameson!" Sam and Caleb's captain, Sargent Williamson, barked, poking his head out his office door. "I need you to head over the bodega on 12th and 32nd to investigate an armed robbery!"

"Come on, let's go," Sam said, taking a swig of her coffee.

….

_We hung out until two in the morning watching movies, just like in the old days_, Freddie thought the next morning, pouring himself a mug of coffee. _That's got to count for something. Maybe she's coming around and sees how sorry Carly and I are. Maybe she's actually starting to forgive us._

"Morning," Carly said brightly, stepping out of her room and heading into the small kitchen of the hotel with Freddie. She grabbed the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. "Well, I'd say last night went pretty well."

"Me too," Freddie agreed. "I think we're getting somewhere."

"Now I just hope nothing screws it up," Carly said.

For a second, Freddie could've sworn Carly glanced over to him as she said this, but she quickly diverted her gaze to her shoes. "Anyway," Carly continued. "I-I was wondering if you would mind if maybe, I-I asked Sam to go shopping."

Freddie shrugged. "Sure, I don't care."

"I mean, just the two of us," Carly finished.

Freddie stared at her.

"It's just, you know, Sam and I always had this special bond from being best friends since we were eight and I've been missing it," Carly quickly explained. "I was thinking maybe if we spent some time together, you know, together, we could try and get it back. We could talk about girl things and look at shoes, maybe grab some cupcakes-"

Freddie sighed. _She has a point_, Freddie thought as Carly continued to ramble on. _Her and Sam were inseparable years ago. Maybe…maybe it would be good for her._

"Okay," he nodded.

Carly smiled at him. "Thanks, Freddie. It means a lot to me. And maybe after the three of us could do something together again."

"Sure," Freddie said. "That'd be cool."

…..

Leah had another hospital appointment that evening, so the second Sam got off of work, she sped back to her apartment to pick up both of the girls so that Mrs. Fisher could attend her weekly bingo tournament. Sam was on her fourth cup of coffee that day and she could practically feel the caffeine leaving her body the second she drank it.

_Guess I can't handle five hours of sleep to get me through the day anymore_, Sam thought to herself as she watched a nurse insert several IVs into Leah.

"Mom? How long is this going to take?" Kira asked impatiently. "I'm bored."

"Don't you have a math test this week to study for?" Sam pointed out.

Kira let out a groan as she hastily reached for her backpack. "How'd you know?"

"I have my ways," Sam said simply.

"More like a lucky guess," Kira mumbled. "Oh, and by the way, I need a stupid dress for school."

"Why?"

"Because my music teacher picked three girls from the class to sing at the winter performance on Saturday and she picked me," Kira said. "And she said that we need to wear dresses, which isn't fair."

"You're going to be singing in the performance?" Sam said. "Kira, that's great! Why didn't you say anything?"

Kira shrugged. "I dunno. So will you get the dress?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah, I'll get it for you."

"Thanks," Kira said. She pulled out her Pearpod and plugged in her headphones as she less-than enthusiastically began working on her math.

Just then Sam's phone began to vibrate. She looked down at her caller ID and saw an unknown number.

_I swear, if it's another telemarketer_, Sam thought bitterly as she answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sam, it's Carly," came Carly's voice on the other end. "I-I got your number from Freddie."

"Oh," Sam replied. "Well…hey."

"Listen, I was just wondering if maybe…maybe you wanted to go shopping tomorrow?" Carly asked slowly. "Have some girl time?"

"Girl time?"

"Yeah, you know, two girls shopping through New York," Carly said. "Sort of like in the movies."

"Um, sure," Sam said. "I can go after I get off work tomorrow. I just found out I need to buy Kira a dress for school anyway."

"Awesome!" Carly said excitedly on the other end. "Great, well, um, I-I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Hey, Carly?" Sam said quickly before the other girl hung up.

"Yeah?"

"You don't still take forever in one store, do you?"

Carly gave a small chuckle. "I'll try to control myself."

"Alright well…bye," Sam said.

She hung up her phone just as Phil entered the hospital room.

"Hi, Sam," he said, heading over to Leah's bedside. "I see the whole gang's here."

"Yup," Sam nodded. "So how's she doing?"

Phil didn't respond. He just wrote a few notes down on his clipboard.

"Phil?"

"Sam…could I speak to you for a moment outside?" the doctor asked.

_Oh God,_ Sam thought to herself, slowly getting to her feet and following Phil out of the room and into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked at once. "Is Leah okay?"

"Well…Sam, the good news here is that this new treatment isn't making Leah any worse," Phil started.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's good then, isn't it?"

"Unfortunately," Phil continued gently. "It isn't making her any better either."

Sam blinked. "What?"

"Sam, I'm going to be direct with you because I think you deserve that," Phil said, his voice heavy with sympathy. "Leah needs a new kidney by the end of the year. At the latest. Right now her own kidney just can't support her body in its present condition."

"But-But she's been on that donor's list for years!" Sam said, her voice shaking. "And she still hasn't found a match! How can we find one for her in less than a month?"

"Sam, I'm sorry," Phil said, handing her a tissue as tears began to fall from Sam's face. "But we're doing everything we can. I've put in calls to hospitals all across the nation and they've promised to contact me if something in one of their facilities becomes available. But…But just in case…perhaps you'd like to start considering-"

"No!" Sam snapped, wiping her eyes fiercely. "I'm not considering anything besides making sure Leah gets better!"

"I just want to make sure you know the reality of this situation," Phil told her.

"I know the reality perfectly well," Sam said coldly. "But that doesn't mean I'm just giving up on my daughter."

And with that she turned on her foot and headed back into Leah's room.


	12. Chapter 12

"Do you think Kira would like one of these dresses?" Carly asked Sam, holding up a pale, pink dress with lace all around it.

Sam shook her head. "Kira's sort of a tomboy," she explained. "She doesn't do pink. Or lace."

"Kind of like you were?" Carly chuckled.

Sam managed a small smile. "I guess so."

Her heart wasn't really in this shopping trip. It had been, when Carly first proposed it, but then she had that conversation with Phil.

All she could think about now was Leah, and what would happen if they couldn't find her a new kidney…

She had considered calling up Carly and canceling so she could go home and wallow in self-pity, but she _did _need to find Kira a dress. She didn't want her healthy child to feel pushed aside, after all.

"Well what about this one?" Carly suggested, showing her a light blue dress with ribbons all around it.

"She'd probably fidget with the ribbons the entire time during her assembly," Sam mumbled.

"Oh…okay," Carly nodded.

Carly had to admit, she had hoped this shopping trip would've been going better. Sam seemed almost…distracted. Was she really this uneasy about spending time with her alone? Maybe it would've been a better idea to bring Freddie along after all.

"I think I'll just get her this one," Sam said, picking up a simple red dress. "It's the best we're gonna find. Kira is impossible to shop for."

"Well that one's cute," Carly said. "Hey, why don't I buy it for her?"

"You don't have to," Sam said quickly.

"I want to," Carly replied. "Let's face it…if I hadn't screwed up twelve years ago, I would've had time to spoil your kids properly, wouldn't I?"

Sam sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's no problem," Carly said, heading towards the cashier. "Oh, and Freddie wants to meet us for dinner after this if you're up for it."

She wasn't. But she supposed since Carly _was _buying Kira's dress…

"Okay," Sam agreed. "But, um, I can't really stay for that long. I need to get home soon."

"Sure, we'll be quick," Carly said. "No worries."

….

Freddie was waiting for them at a small diner a few blocks away.

"Did you girls have fun shopping?" Freddie asked as Carly and Sam sat down at the booth with him.

"Yeah, we got Kira a really nice dress," Carly said happily. "Hey, um, Sam? Do you think you could maybe send me a picture of her when she wears the dress? I'd love to see her in it."

Sam bit her lip. "Um, well are you guys going to still be in New York Saturday?"

"We should be," Freddie nodded.

"Well, um, if you don't have anything better to do," Sam said. "You can come to her performance…if you want. I sort of hate going to those things alone anyway."

"Definitely," Carly said at once. "That sounds so fun."

"We'll be there," Freddie grinned. "So is Leah going to be in this performance too?"

Sam looked down at her lap. "No, um, she-she's not."

"Oh, well I just figured it was a school-wide performance," Freddie shrugged.

"It is," Sam said. "But, um, they don't go to the same school. Leah does online school."

"Online school?" Carly repeated. "That's…cool."

"Yeah, I heard in some cases online schooling is even better than traditional schooling," Freddie said.

"Yeah, well, Leah would much rather be back in a normal school," Sam sighed. "I had to pull her out because she was missing so much school that she couldn't keep up with the work."

"How come she was missing school?" Carly frowned.

Sam didn't respond right away.

"Um, never mind," Carly said quickly. "I was just-"

"She's sick," Sam said heavily.

Carly and Freddie's faces both dropped.

"Sick?" Freddie said softly.

"Her kidneys have been failing since she was three," Sam mumbled.

"What?" Carly breathed. "I'm so sorry, Sam."

"Yeah, that's-that's awful," Freddie nodded.

"She had to have one of her kidneys removed when she was eight," Sam continued, words spilling out of her now. "And now she only has one left and-and it's pretty bad and she needs a transplant."

"Well…you'll find a kidney for her," Carly said, trying to boost the blonde's spirits.

"She's been on a stupid list for one for years," Sam said darkly. "And no luck. I'm not a match for her, Kira's not a match, my mom, Melanie, none of my relatives."

"Um, what-what about maybe on her dad's side?" Freddie asked gently.

Sam shook her head. "He's not a match either," she said darkly. "Besides, he probably wouldn't be much help if he was. Apparently there's a million rules for prisoners donating their organs."

Freddie stared at her. He could tell that she was trying hard to keep it together. He couldn't imagine how it must feel to have a child in that situation. True, he didn't have kids of his own, but seeing the hurt in Sam's eyes made it pretty clear that there was probably no worse tragedy that could strike someone.

He saw that Sam's light, blue eyes were red, and at that instant Freddie wanted nothing more to throw his arms around her; to comfort her and hold her.

But he knew he couldn't. He knew that would just send her running.

So instead he simply slowly reached his hand across the table and gently squeezed hers.

Sam's neck jerked up and looked right into his eyes. For a moment, the brown and blue orbs stared into each other.

And then, Sam suddenly pulled her hand away and jumped to her feet.

"I really need to go," she said quickly, pulling out her wallet and tossing a few bills onto the table before Carly or Freddie could protest. "I need to go check on Leah. Thanks again for the dress, Carly. I-I'll see you guys later."

And with that she rushed out of the diner.


	13. Chapter 13

"So she really needs it by the end of the month?" Caleb asked gently.

"Yup," Sam said heavily, absentmindedly scribbling her name on the forms her partner had brought over.

It was late, and both of the girls were asleep in their room.

"Maybe someone will come through," Caleb assured her.

"I hope so," Sam mumbled, because it was the only thing she could think to say.

Caleb gave her a small smile. "Hey, Vivian's going in tomorrow morning to get tested tomorrow morning with her sister. That's two more chances you'll be able to find a match."

"Thanks," Sam sighed. "Tell her I appreciate it. A lot."

"Do the girls know what's going on?" Caleb asked softly.

"Do you mean have I told my eleven-year old that she basically has less than a month unless some miracle donor comes through?" Sam frowned. "No. How am I even supposed to tell her _or _Kira about this? I-I think Leah knows that this new treatment isn't exactly making her kidney good as new, but, I-I still can't bring myself to tell her. She's a baby, Caleb. And-And Kira will be crushed, even though she'll try and act all tough. But…But I know I have to tell both of them. At some point. I mean, it would be worse if I don't. I just don't know how, and-"

"Hey, I'm sorry," Caleb said, putting an arm around her. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Whatever," Sam muttered. "It's not like I haven't been thinking about it all day."

"Just don't give up on hoping a donor will come through," Caleb told her.

Sam bit her lip. "Hey, Caleb? You-You remember that case that we worked about six years ago? With those three brothers who were smuggling in goods from Mexico to sell on some Black Market exchange thing online?"

"Yes…" Caleb said slowly. "What about it?"

"Do you remember when we were going through there website after we caught them?" Sam asked. "And-And we saw some woman selling one of her kidneys for a ton of money?"

"Sam, no," Caleb said firmly.

"What if that's the only way I can find Leah a kidney, huh?" Sam hissed.

"Do you know how unsafe that is for her?" Caleb said. "No credible doctor would do a transplant with an illegal organ. You'd have to find some alley doctor who's not even qualified to do surgery on a grasshopper! Plus it's _illegal_. How do you plan on taking care of the girls if you get caught and thrown in jail, huh?"

"It was just a thought," Sam mumbled.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.

"You expecting anybody this late?" Caleb asked.

"No," Sam said, heading to the door. She opened it up and was greeted by Freddie, who was standing right in front of her.

"Hey," Freddie said. "Um, sorry. I-I didn't know if you would still be up this late. Did I wake you?"

"No," Sam replied, letting him in. "But what are you doing here?"

Freddie handed Sam a red scarf. "You left this at the diner. You know, when you rushed out."

"Right," Sam said. "Um, look, I'm sorry about that-"

"Don't," Freddie told her. "I understand. Or, well, I-I'm sure I don't completely understand what you must be going through right now, but it's got to be…"

"Pretty suckish?" Sam finished, glancing up at him.

"Well…yes," Freddie nodded. "In not-so-technical turns."

"Yeah, well, that's what it is," Sam shrugged, leading Freddie into the living room, where Caleb still sat.

When Freddie's eyes fell on Caleb, he suddenly felt a bit awkward.

_Who-Who's he?_ Freddie thought to himself. But then again…he may have figured out Sam wasn't married to the twins father, but that didn't necessarily mean she was single. That was yet to be determined.

"I-I didn't know you had company," Freddie said quickly. "I'll just leave-"

"Hey, don't rush out just because of me," Caleb said, getting to his feet. "I was just on my way out anyway."

"Um, Freddie, this is Caleb," Sam said. "He's my partner at work."

"Nice to meet you, Freddie," Caleb smiled, extending his hand. "I think Kira mentioned that Sam went out to dinner with a Freddie the other night…you the same guy?"

"I am," Freddie nodded.

"Huh," Caleb said, looking over at Sam, who rolled her eyes. "Interesting…Well, like I said, I'm gonna head home now. I'll see you at work tomorrow, Sam."

"Later," Sam said, giving her partner a look on his way out.

_Her partner…_Freddie told himself. _Well…she's not dating __**him**__ at least, but…_

"So, you seeing anybody?" Freddie blurted out. He instantly wanted to kick himself. How _stupid _could he be to ask that question right now. When she had just told him about her sick child less than six hours ago?

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Um…no."

"Ah, well, that's…that," Freddie said, clapping his hands together.

Sam looked down at her feet. "Are _you _seeing anyone?"

"No," Freddie said at once. "No, um, no. I'm not."

Sam nodded. "Alright then."

"Um, listen, Sam," Freddie said. "I also came over here to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine," Sam said gruffly.

"You know," Freddie said, sitting down in Caleb's empty seat. "I remember how back in high school, something would happen to you. You'd get detention in Mr. Howard's class for almost no reason; just because he didn't like you, or some guy you had a crush on would start dating a prissy cheerleader or your mom would jet off to Vegas yet again without telling you…and we'd always ask if you were okay. You would tell us you were fine, but I don't think you were. Not back then. And-And not now."

"I'm fine," Sam repeated harshly. "I'm not the one with a failing kidney, after all."

"No," Freddie agreed. "But you're the mother of the girl with one."

Sam stared at him.

"Sam," Freddie said. "I-I'm not sure what we are right now. I don't know if you consider me a friend still or if you're still really mad at me or what, but I know that _I _still care about you. I just want to make sure you know that if you need to talk to someone…about anything…I'm here."

Sam sat down across from Freddie. "Um thanks…I guess," she said. "But I don't need someone to spill all my problems to."

"Okay," Freddie nodded. "So then why don't we just talk?"

"Talk?" Sam repeated.

"Sometimes when I get stressed out at work," Freddie explained. "Just going over to Spencer's or Carly's for a little bit and talking about anything really helps me."

Sam laughed. "You're telling me you want to just talk about random junk?"

"If you want to," Freddie nodded.

Sam thought for a moment.

Talking did actually sound appealing at the moment. It felt like it would maybe relieve some of the stress and anxiety she could feel piling inside her.

And if memory served, Freddie _was_ quite good at listening. During the few serious chats they managed in high school, he did sometimes prove to be even better than Carly.

"Okay," Sam finally agreed. "Let's talk."


	14. Chapter 14

"So you never told me," Freddie said, nearly an hour later, as him and Sam sat at her kitchen table. "Why'd you come to New York of all places when you left Seattle?"

Sam shrugged. "Seemed like the place everyone came to make it. Too bad it didn't exactly work out that way for me."

Freddie didn't know how to respond to that, so he simply took a sip of the herbal tea Sam had made him. She said she didn't have coffee, as she threw away everything unhealthy from her kitchen the second Leah was put back on dialysis. Freddie took a moment to appreciate how that gesture really reflected on Sam's parenting.

"So," Sam said, breaking the silence. "Is your mom still insane?"

"Absolutely," Freddie replied at once. "If anything, I'd say she's gone more psycho over the years."

Sam let out a small laugh. "How could she have gone _more _psycho?"

"Well, see, now that I'm all grown up and out of her care," Freddie sighed. "Her motherly instincts are feeling a bit…unused. So now, in addition to trying to steam me for ticks at all hours of the night or coming into my apartment and smashing up all my fruit into fruit sauce, I now have her hounding me to give her grandkids."

Sam snorted. "Are you sersious?"

"Very," Freddie said. "I swear, she must try and set me up on five blind dates a month."

"Well," Sam said, shaking her head. "That's absolutely _crazy_, but actually…I can sort of see where she's coming from with the overprotective bit now."

Freddie stared at her in shock. "What?"

"I mean, she _did _take it overboard a few times," Sam said. "Or a lot of the times…but I _can _kind of see her side of that now that I have the twins."

"Are you saying _you _became as overprotective as _my _mom?" Freddie grinned.

"Well, I never took the girls to have chips implanted into their brains," Sam smirked. "Or had them wear cloud block…But, I mean, a couple of years ago, when Kira begged and begged me to let her start walking to the bus stop down the street by herself, I sort of followed her without her knowing for at least six months. And when Leah was younger, she used to play with all these dolls and she had a bunch of accessories for all of them. And I was really freaked out that she'd wind up swallowing the little parts even though she was like, six years old, so one night when she was sleeping, I took all the tiny things and threw them away."

"I guess you _are _pretty overprotective," Freddie said. "But still, nowhere near as bad as my mom was."

"Good," Sam said.

"Hey, tell me more about the twins," Freddie said. "I've only gotten to meet Kira for about two minutes, but I don't know too much about either of them. Are they a lot alike?"

Sam smiled. "They're polar opposites. Kira is the most like me out of the two. She hates girly things. She'd rather spend her time playing basketball at the park with her friends than going shopping or putting on makeup or any of that stuff. But she's actually really good at singing. She's pretty shy about it, which is why I'm happy she gets to sing at her assembly this weekend. And believe it or not, the kid's already got a better left hook than I do."

"No way," Freddie laughed. "I feel bad for anybody who gets on her wrong side then. Because I think I still have some bruises on my arm from _your _hooks."

"I taught her well," Sam said proudly. "And Leah…Leah's real sweet. She's really into fashion. I think she must have a dozen subscriptions to different magazines. She likes to look at the clothes and try and draw her own designs. She can entertain herself for hours by just painting her nails with a bunch of crazy patterns and colors or by doing her hair. She'll do my hair, Kira's, if she lets her…she wants to be a fashion designer someday."

Freddie noticed how Sam's face lit up as she talked about her children. It was clear they were her whole world.

"Hey, what about you?" Sam asked.

"What about me?" Freddie shrugged.

"I dunno, give me the lowdown on you," Sam said. "All I know really know is that you're working at the Pear Company and you still have a whacko mom."

"There's not much more," Freddie told her. "I don't really have that exciting of a life, you know. I go to work and come home."

"Come on, I'm sure there's more than that," Sam said. "Hey, what about college? How did you and Carly do there?"

"It was pretty nice, I guess," Freddie said. "You know me…I practically lived in the library."

"What? You didn't go crazy and party there like everyone else?"

"Parties weren't really my thing," Freddie said. "Not that that was a surprise to anyone."

"No, I guess not," Sam agreed.

"I went to a few with Carly," Freddie continued. "She really liked them. A little too much, at times."

Sam nodded.

"But still, it wasn't bad," Freddie said. "I got away from my mom, after all. She called at least five times a day, but it was better than living with her. I think…I think it would've been more fun, though, if the three of us had gone together."

Sam took a swig of her tea. "Yeah, well, that would've never happened. I didn't get in, remember?" She sighed and looked down at her lap. "Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like…if I had gotten into college with you guys or I had gotten to go to that cooking school…I wouldn't be in New York, for starters, I probably wouldn't be a cop…I wouldn't have the twins…"

"I think you did well for yourself, though," Freddie said. "You have a nice apartment, great kids…"

"I don't regret moving here," Sam said quickly. "I just sometimes wondered if it would've been…easier staying in Seattle."

"Don't dwell on that," Freddie said gently.

Sam didn't reply.

"Hey," Freddie said, his lips curling into a smile. "You know what I've been sort of missing these past twelve years?"

"What?" Sam asked.

"Your insults."

Sam almost choked on her tea. "My insults?"

"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "As much as they destroyed my ego…they always kept me on my toes."

Sam laughed. "That's probably the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"I know," Freddie said. "But it's true."

Sam rolled her eyes. She looked down at her phone. "Whoa," she said. "It's past midnight."

"Wow," Freddie said. "I guess we sort of lost track of time."

"Yeah," Sam replied. "Um, I-I sort of have work tomorrow morning."

"Oh, right," Freddie said quickly, getting to his feet. "Sorry for keeping you up then."

"No, this was…cool," Sam said. "Um, thanks."

"I guess I'll see you around then," Freddie said, turning towards the front door.

"Yeah, see you," Sam nodded. She waited a moment, and then added, "Nub."

Freddie looked back at her and grinned before heading out of the apartment.


	15. Chapter 15

Sam sighed as she hung up her phone. She had just finished talking to Caleb who had unfortunately told her that neither Vivian nor her sister were a match for Leah.

Sam laid back against the pillows of her bed. Honestly, she hadn't been expecting much from that test. Phil had always told her that the chances of finding a match from a non-blood relative of Leah's was much slimmer than finding one from someone who was related to her.

Sadly, though, Sam had run out of relatives to match.

Her mother was the first who got tested. Then Melanie got tested, though Sam never understood why. If she wasn't a match there was no way her identical twin sister would be either. But Melanie had insisted, she even had her now six-year old son tested, as well as her husband.

All of her cousins had agreed to be tested. Half of them had to get special arrangements from their parole officers to do so.

Her aunts and uncles were all tested too; her uncle Carmine had even persuaded a few of his old prison buddies to check as well.

All in all, she estimated that at least forty people from her side of the family had been tested.

Not one of them was a match.

And then there was _his _side.

Whereas Sam had wasted no time in testing to see if one of her kidneys was a match for Leah, Marshall probably wouldn't have gotten tested at all if Sam hadn't worked out a deal with a judge that would involve his prison sentence being cut by almost a decade if he was a match.

When Sam discovered that he was in fact not a match either, it took Sam weeks to gather the strength to try and reach out to the few family members of his that she knew. She had met his mother and father a handful of times, and she had been introduced to his sister briefly during a lunch years ago and she knew he had a cousin who lived in Maine. It had taken all Sam had to get them to be tested. None of them were a match and none of them had ever contacted her again to see how Leah was doing. His family despised her, because in their view, she was the woman who got their precious Marshall sentenced to twenty years in jail. They didn't care about what he had done to land himself there in the first place eight years ago…

…..

_Sam sat at her kitchen table, her head resting against her hands. She still couldn't believe what she had been told earlier that day. How could her beautiful little girl be sick? How could she have failing kidneys at only three years old? And the worst part was she was in the hospital right now, alone. The doctors had told her that Kira wasn't allowed to stay overnight at the hospital. Sam had tried calling Marshall several times, but she couldn't get ahold of him, so she was forced to say goodbye to Leah, who had sobbed harder than she had ever seen before, begging her mommy not to leave her. _

_It was well after two in the morning now, and Sam still had no idea where her boyfriend was. _

_Finally, Sam heard a key turn in the apartment door. She heard Marshall stumble in, and the second he entered the home, Sam could smell the alcohol on him. _

_He had promised her right before the twins were born that he was going to stop drinking. But so far that promise had proved to be only empty words. _

"_Heyyyy, baby," Marshall slurred as he walked unstably into the kitchen. _

_Sam narrowed her eyes. "Where the hell were you all day?" _

"_I was having a little bit of fun," Marshall replied, leaning against the counter. _

"_I called you a hundred times!" Sam exclaimed. "Do you have any idea what __**happened **__today?" _

"_I know what I want to happen right now," Marshall said provocatively, starting towards Sam. _

_Sam rolled her eyes and moved out of his path. _

"_What's wrong?" Marshall asked disappointed. _

"_Your daughter's sick," Sam said coldly. "Leah. I had to rush her to the emergency room today because she was __**vomiting up blood**__. The doctors told me that her kidneys started failing. Do you have any idea how __**serious **__that is? She's still in the hospital right now, all by herself because __**you **__didn't answer your phone to come and get Kira so I could stay with her!" _

"_Babe, don't get so worked up," Marshall said, advancing towards Sam again. "It makes you soooo much less hot." _

_Sam gave him a disgusted look. "The doctor said Leah's kidney's are shutting down. That could __**kill **__her. Do you even care?" _

"_What I care about," Marshall said, putting his hands on Sam's shoulders. "Is getting you into that bed of ours." _

"_Get your hands off me!" Sam spat, pushing him away. _

_Marshall's face suddenly changed. "Don't talk to me that way," he said in a stone cold voice. _

"_Get out of here until you sober up," Sam said firmly, crossing her arms. _

"_Don't you kick me out of my home!" _

"_**Your **__home?" Sam scoffed. "You can't call it that until you get a job to help pay for it!"_

_And then, with one swift motion, Marshall slapped her across the face. Hard. _

_Sam took a step back, her cheek stinging. _

_Marshall had done this before. And usually at this point, Sam was able to get him under control. She was physically stronger than him, so she would be able to hold off any further blows until he tired himself out and stormed out in frustration. Perhaps it was because Sam was already so drained and exhausted from finding out about Leah's condition, but for some reason, Sam was caught off guard. Marshall grabbed her waist and slammed her against the kitchen counter. _

"_You treat me with __**respect**__!" he roared. _

"_Get __**off!**__" Sam hissed, now worried that Kira would soon awake. Marshall had never hit either of the girls, but at this point, Sam wasn't sure what he wouldn't do. _

"_Give me what I want first," he demanded, lowering his lips roughly onto her, still holding tightly only her waist. _

_Sam managed to push his face away from hers. _

_Marshall pushed her harder against the counter. "How dare you?" he yelled. "You should be lucky I came home to be with you! I could've found some girl on the street to be with tonight, but I picked __**you**__ and this is how you thank me?" _

"_Get off me!" Sam yelled again. _

_But Marshall just slapped her again, and now, Sam was getting really scared. _

_She didn't see Marshall's hand go for the nearby drawer and pull out that butcher's knife, but she did see if for the split second before Marshall stabbed it into her left shoulder. _

_She had never felt pain as horrid as what she felt at that moment. She let out a scream and reflexively managed to kick Marshall off her. _

"_Hope your learned your lesson," Marshall said cruelly, watching Sam for a moment before turning and leaving the apartment. _

…..

Sam had met Mrs. Fisher for the first time that night. She had heard the yelling and looked out her peephole just as Marshall was storming out of the apartment. She came to Sam's aid and called her an ambulance and stayed with Kira while Sam was rushed off to the same hospital Leah was staying at.

Hours later, after Sam woke up in the hospital, Marshall came to see her, begging for forgiveness once again.

But Sam was done.

She called security the second he walked into her room and right when she was discharged, she went to file charges. Thanks to her position as a cop and her connections with law enforcement, Sam was able to make sure Marshall got the maximum sentence time. He was forced to give up all custody of the twins and when he would be released from jail, he would be ordered to stay at least five hundred yards from them and Sam.

Sam never told the twins about that night.

Sometimes, Sam got the suspicion that Kira knew what had happened. Though Kira had always been a heavy sleeper, there _had _been an awful lot of yelling that night; she could've easily been woken at some point during the fight.

Sam never liked to bring it up, very few people knew. She never told her mom or any of her family members. Only Caleb and a few other officers involved in the case knew. Sam knew it hadn't been her fault, but she still would sometimes wonder why she had allowed herself to be thrown against the counter. She was stronger than him…why had he been able to pin her down like that?

She had told the girls that their father had just left. It wasn't that traumatic of an experience for them, really. Marshall was never a great father. Half of the time he wouldn't come home until late, when they were already asleep, and when he was awake, he was hung over and would yell at them for making the slightest bit of noise.

Sam rolled over onto her side and hugged one of her pillows. She hated thinking of Marshall. He was a pathetic excuse for a man and she couldn't believe she had fallen into his trap. The only thing she'd ever be grateful to him for was for giving her the twins. It was the one good thing he managed to do in his life. Whenever she came across men like her during her work, she could almost feel her scar on her shoulder twinge, and there had been times when, if Caleb hadn't been around to stop her, she was convinced she'd do much more than handcuff those men.

She really wished that she could manage to find a decent guy. She had dated a few guys since Marshall, and while none of them had been nearly as bad as him, they were far from her ideal man. She just wanted someone who actually seemed to care about her. Someone who was funny and cool and didn't care if she acted like a perfect girlfriend _all _of the time. She wanted someone like…Freddie.

Sam jolted up. Did she really just think that?

But now that the thought had entered her mind, she couldn't shake it.

It _had _been nice, just sitting and talking with him all last night. And ever since he had arrived in New York, he had been just as he was in high school; a perfect gentleman.

She remembered when they had dated for that short time back in high school…it had been fun…She wondered if he would still be fun now, over twelve years later. Would he still hold tight to his wallet over a couple of smoothies, but later take her to a butcher store and buy her any type of ham she'd want? Would he still tell her she was beautiful every single day, even when she would tell him he sounded stupid? Would he still make her heart beat twice as fast or make her stomach do cartwheels when they kiss? Would his hand still fit perfectly with his? Would his lips feel the same?

Sam shook her head.

No. She couldn't allow herself to have these types of thoughts right now. What kind of mother would she be if she spent her time worrying about Freddie when she should be spending her time figuring out how to help Leah?

She could allow Freddie back into her life as a friend, Carly too. But she couldn't peruse anything more with him. She had more important things to worry about.


	16. Chapter 16

Sam sat on her couch in between Leah and Kira, watching some movie that they had found on T.V.

Sam had just gotten back from taking Leah to dialysis and earlier she had been at work all day. She loved these moments when she was actually able to sit down and relax with both of her children.

"Mom?" Leah mumbled tiredly. She was still exhausted from her hospital visit.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Sam replied.

"What's iCarly?"

Sam frowned. She certainly wasn't expecting to hear those words coming out of her daughter's mouth. She had never told the girls about the old web show she used to be a part of.

"How did you find out about that?" Sam asked.

"I was bored at the hospital," Leah explained. "So I started looking up things on my laptop and I decided to search your name and I found some website called . It had a bunch of videos with you in it."

"I want to see," Kira said.

Sam smiled and turned off the T.V. She reached over to the coffee table where her own laptop was laying and quickly pulled up .

"It's an old web show," Sam told the girls. "Me-Me and my friends used to do it when we were younger."

"What was it about?" Leah asked.

"Nothing, really," Sam said. "It was just little skits we would make up or random bits…it was pretty cool though, and it was actually a pretty popular show. We managed to get over a million hits per show after a few years. We even got to have some cool bands on there, a couple of celebrities…heck we even got the first lady at the time to be on it."

"Whoa, were you like, famous?" Kira asked.

"Not exactly," Sam chuckled.

"How come you guys stopped?" Leah asked.

Sam sighed. "Well…I guess we just grew up. We had been doing the show for five years, and Carly and Freddie were both going to go off to college so they couldn't really do the show from there anymore."

"Is that the Freddie I met at the movies?" Kira asked.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "And that's Carly; she's the one who bought you the dress."

"But you said you weren't friends with those people anymore," Leah pointed out. "You guys look like friends here."

"We-We were," Sam said. "Carly and I were best friends; practically sisters. And Freddie was a good friend too. But then, um…I moved here, they stayed in Washington…we grew apart. It happens sometimes. But, well, I think…I think maybe they want to be friends again…which _would _be sort of nice…I guess."

"Can I meet them?" Leah asked.

"Huh?"

"I want to get to meet them," Leah repeated. "It's not fair that Kira got to meet Freddie."

Sam laughed. "Okay," she shrugged. "What if we…invite them to dinner tomorrow?"

"Sure, if they don't mind gross health food," Kira smirked.

"Please, that stuff is nothing compared to what Freddie's mom used to make him eat when we were kids," Sam said. "He's used to it. And Carly never exactly saw my theory on deep frying everything, so I don't think she'd mind either."

"Invite them!" Leah urged her mother. "Do it, mom!"

Sam rolled her eyes as she pulled out her phone and pulled up Carly's number.

Carly answered on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Carly," Sam said. "Um, you and Freddie busy tomorrow night?"

"No," Carly said at once.

"Well, um, the twins sort of want to meet you guys," Sam explained. "So do you two want to come over for dinner? Around seven?"

"Definitely," Carly said happily. "I can't wait to meet them! I'll tell Freddie."

"Cool," Sam replied. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

….

"Okay, so I think I found some nice presents for the twins," Carly said the next day, returning to her and Freddie's hotel room with a couple of shopping bags.

"Let me see," Freddie said.

"Well," Carly said, opening the first bag. "I got Kira this autographed basketball from some fancy sports store at the mall. I don't know who the guy is, but apparently he's a pretty big deal. And then I got Leah…"

She opened the second bag. "The new Denzela Maybell makeup collection! It's not even available until next season, but I put in a few calls and I was able to score this baby from her outlet! I just have to make sure it gets a good review in the magazine!"

"I'm sure they'll love them," Freddie smiled.

"I hope so," Carly said. "I just wonder if-Um, Freddie? Did you empty an entire bottle of cologne onto yourself?"

"Is it too much?" Freddie asked nervously.

"Maybe a little," Carly nodded, trying not to gag.

"Aw man!" Freddie moaned. "Now I need to go take another shower and try and scrape this junk off! There goes the three hundred bucks I spent on this stuff."

"You spent three hundred dollars on cologne?" Carly frowned. "Dude! You never do that! You always say that the fancy stuff is a total rip off."

"I thought I'd just give it a try," Freddie mumbled.

Carly sighed. "Freddie? Did your buying super expensive cologne have anything to do with the fact that we're having dinner with Sam tonight?"

Freddie stared at her. "What?"

"Freddie," Carly said heavily. "I'm not dumb, you know."

"Okay…?" Freddie said slowly. "Still don't know where you're going with this."

Carly took a deep breath. "Are you…are you into Sam?"

"Excuse me?" Freddie frowned.

"Just answer the question," Carly said. "Honestly."

"You're ridiculous," Freddie said firmly.

"And you still haven't given me an answer," Carly said softly.

"Carly, this week has been the first time I've seen Sam in twelve years!" Freddie said. "How could I have already developed feelings for her in such a short time? It's completely insane…and-and crazy."

"But that still doesn't give me an answer," Carly said again. She put her hand on Freddie's shoulder. "You can tell me, Freddie."

Freddie sighed and sat down in the nearby armchair. "Okay," he admitted slowly. "I-I think I may have feelings for her. I just don't get it, though! How can I possibly feel this way about her when she's been out of my life for over a decade? It's supposed to take time for you to feel this way about someone!"

"Maybe," Carly said gently. "But, I mean, you did have feelings for her back in high school, didn't you? When you dated for that month. And besides…it's not like Sam's a total stranger."

"I just…I can't stop thinking about her," Freddie said quietly. "And she's not with anybody right now…but I can't do anything now, Carly, can I? I think she's just starting to finally see us as her friends again. Would-Would be too risky to maybe…you know?"

Carly sat down on the ledge of the coffee table and looked right at Freddie. "Freddie…I think that you and Sam were pretty great together back in high school. I was actually pretty sad for you both when you broke up. But right now…I think you're right. I don't want you to risk what friendship you've regained with Sam. After all, you'd rather have her, even if only as a friend, than not at all, right?"

"Right," Freddie said at once.

"So I think you should focus on that, first," Carly told him. "And then, maybe, if in say a year or so, you guys are still in a good place…you can see what happens."

"A year?" Freddie repeated. A lot could happen in a year. She could be in a relationship with someone else…

"I just think this needs time," Carly said. "She's got a lot on her plate right now, after all…with Leah."

That's right…Freddie knew Sam probably wasn't looking for anyone right now anyway. Not with her daughter in her current condition.

"Okay," Freddie said heavily. "I-I'll wait before I try anything."

"Good," Carly smiled. She picked up her bags. "Now come on, we're going to be late."

….

"I don't know how to do it, mom!" Kira moaned.

"Kira, you're math test is in two days," Sam sighed. "And you realize if you don't get at least a B on this test, you're going to have to go to summer school?"

"But I don't get it," Kira said.

"Here, let me see it again," Sam said, taking the textbook from her daughter, pausing from tossing her salad. "Um…I think you're supposed to divide something here…maybe X…No wait, you're solving for X…"

"See, you can't even do this," Kira said.

"Yeah, well, I'm out of the sixth grade," Sam said firmly. "So I don't have to know how to do it, now do I? Just-Just go and work on this some more until dinner. I'll try and help you more afterwards."

"Can't I just stop?"

"No," Sam said. "You're _going_ to pass math, Kira."

Kira rolled her eyes and stomped back to the kitchen table, where she had been attempting to do her homework ever since she had gotten home from school.

Just then, there was a knock at the door; Carly and Sam had arrived.

"Mom, they're here!" Leah said excitedly from the couch as Sam headed to the front door. She pushed off one of her blankets and made to get up.

"Yeah, I know," Sam nodded. "And hey! Don't get up, Leah. You need to rest."

Leah moaned but listened to her mother.

Sam opened the door, where Carly and Freddie were waiting for her.

"Hey!" Carly said brightly.

"Hi," Sam smiled. "Dinner's going to be ready in a few minutes."

"Awesome, I'm starved," Freddie said.

"Oh, we brought over some gifts for the girls," Carly said.

"You didn't need to-" Sam started.

"Hey, I've wanted to have kids to spoil forever," Carly said. "Heck, I was so excited when Spencer got married because I thought I'd finally get a little niece or nephew to buy stuff for."

"Okay," Sam shrugged. "Well thanks then."

She led them into the living room, where Leah was waiting impatiently.

"This is Leah," Sam introduced. "Leah, this is Carly and that's Freddie."

"Hi!" Leah said happily.

"Hey there," Freddie smiled, shaking her hand. "Glad to finally meet you. Your mom told us a lot about you."

"Yeah, she said you were really into fashion, and I can tell she was right," Carly grinned. "Where did you get your hair done?"

"Oh, I did it myself," Leah said proudly.

"No way," Carly laughed. "It looks professionally done. I don't even see styles that good at work."

"Where do you work?" Leah asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm the make-up editor for _Catwalk_," Carly explained.

Leah's eyes widened. "Really? I _love _that magazine! I have every issue from the past five years! Is it super fun working there? Do you get to try on all the newest makeup and clothes? Do you meet all the famous designers?"

"You just made her night," Sam told Carly. "She's going to bombard you with questions until you leave."

"Which is totally fine," Carly said.

"Where's Kira?" Freddie questioned.

"In the kitchen," Sam replied. "Hold on…Kira! Come here!"

A moment later, Kira appeared.

"Kira, you met Freddie for a little bit the other day," Sam said. "And this is Carly."

"Good to see you again, Kira," Freddie said politely.

"Whoa, Sam…she looks so much like you," Carly said softly. "Both of them do…"

Sam smiled. "Yeah…I've been told."

"Oh, almost forgot," Carly said, opening up her bag. "I've got the presents…"

"Presents?" Kira repeated, her face lighting up.

"Here we are," Carly said, pulling out Kira's basketball. She handed it to the girl. "It's signed by somebody…I hope it's a good player. I don't know too much about sports, but the guy at the store-"

"Oh my God!" Kira gasped, almost dropping the ball. "This is signed by Vince O'Mally!"

"Is he any good?" Carly asked.

Everyone stared at her.

"He's one of the best forwards in professional basketball," Sam told her.

"Yeah, he's always all over the news," Freddie nodded. "Even _I _know who he is."

"Thank you," Kira said, still staring at her ball in awe. "Oh man…this is now the greatest thing I've even held in my hands."

"And this is for Leah," Carly said, pulling the makeup set out.

"Wow!" Leah exclaimed. "This is from Denzela Maybell! I've never had makeup from Denzela Maybell before! And this isn't even supposed to come out for months! Thank you!"

"I've got to go show this to Harper downstairs," Kira said. "He's going to be so jealous!"

"You're not showing him anything until you finish your math homework," Sam told her daughter.

"Mom!"

"Go, Kira," Sam said firmly.

"I can't wait to try some of this on," Leah said, opening up her makeup kit. "I wonder how this blush will look on me…Can I put some on now, mom?"

"Knock yourself out, kid," Sam nodded.

"I can help you put it on, if you want," Carly offered.

"Okay!" Leah nodded eagerly. "Can you show me how you do it for your magazine?"

"Um, do you need any help in the kitchen?" Freddie asked Sam.

Sam shrugged. "If you want."

Freddie followed her into the kitchen, where Kira was glaring down at her math book.

"I hate math," Kira announced.

"We know, Kira," Sam sighed.

"Oh, are-are you having trouble?" Freddie asked.

Kira nodded. "I don't know how to do any of it and I have a test soon."

"Well…maybe I can take a look at it," Freddie suggested. "I was pretty good at math back in the day."

"Oh yeah," Sam said. "You were in that nerdy math club."

Freddie chuckled. "Yes I was."

"Can you really help me?" Kira asked.

"Sure, what's the problem?" Freddie asked, sitting down next to her.

Kira showed him the problem she was working on.

"Okay," Freddie told her. "This one looks a lot harder than it actually is. The trick is you just need to subtract the five from each side and then boom! You have X equals eleven."

"Wait…that's it?" Kira frowned.

"That's it," Freddie nodded. "Not so tricky, is it?"

"I guess not…" Kira said slowly. "But can you help me with this one too?"

Sam watched the two of them, a slow smile creeping onto her face. For someone who didn't have experience with kids, Freddie seemed to be doing pretty well. And Carly.

"Hey mom, guess what?" Kira said, looking up from her textbook. "I kind of get this stuff!"

"Nice," Sam laughed. "Okay…dinner's almost ready. Why don't you take a break for a little and go wash up?"

"Can you help me with the rest after dinner?" Kira asked Freddie.

"I'd love to," Freddie agreed.

"Thanks for helping her," Sam said as Kira went off to put her book away. "I was looking at that stuff before, but I'm not too good with math…I mean I probably would've failed _my _math classes in high school if I didn't always steal your homework and copy it."

"No problem," Freddie said. "She picked up on the stuff pretty quick, though."

"She can be smart when she wants to be," Sam said. "But school's not exactly her thing…guess she got that from me. I just hope she can get into a college when she's older…not like me."

"Hey…everybody's got their thing," Freddie said, getting up and moving towards Sam. "I bet you're one of the best detectives in the field. You're no match for any criminal."

Sam rolled her eyes. "I guess," she said modestly.

"And I remember you used to be pretty observant in high school," Freddie continued, moving closer to her. "That's got to come in handy."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah."

The two of them were almost touching now. Sam looked up at Freddie, and the second he looked down into her light, blue eyes, he felt dizzy and completely overwhelmed with feelings. And suddenly, his mind was wiped blank except for the thought of slowly leaning down towards her lips and-

_No! _Freddie told himself. _What are you doing_? _Remember what Carly said!_ _Don't blow your friendship with Sam over this!_

Freddie quickly backed up and Sam looked down at her feet, blushing.

"Um, well, I need to go send a quick email to my boss before we eat," Sam said, clearing her throat. "I-I just remembered."

"Yeah, okay," Freddie said quickly.

"Hopefully I can send it without a problem," Sam sighed. "My laptop's been acting up this past week. I think I need to get a new one or something."  
"Hey, why don't I come by sometime and take a look at it?" Freddie suggested.

"You'd do that?" Sam asked.

Freddie nodded. "Absolutely."

"I'll hold you to that then, Benson," Sam smirked.

"You've got it, Puckett."


	17. Chapter 17

After dinner that evening, Freddie went back to helping Kira with her math homework and Leah went back to her makeup kit, where she continued to go through all of the different shades of eye shadow and lipstick.

Carly stayed in the kitchen to help Sam clean up.

"Dinner was really good," Carly said as Sam began to load the dishwasher.

"Yeah…sorry it was really plain," Sam said. "Leah can't eat too many processed foods, which rules out most flavorings, seasonings…tastes."

"Well I liked it," Carly said, rinsing a few glasses out. She glanced over at Sam. "Kira and Leah are great."

"Thanks," Sam replied.

"Leah…she doesn't really seem-I mean, if I didn't know-"

"She doesn't seem sick sometimes," Sam said softly. "Sometimes she seems healthy, like Kira. And then there's some days when she can't even get out of bed or go more than an hour without throwing up."

"I'm sorry," Carly whispered.

Sam shook her head. "It's not _your _fault."

"I just…I really wish I could've been here for you…through all of this," Carly said. "It can't have been easy."

Sam didn't reply.

"I should've been there for you when Leah first got sick, like a best friend's supposed to be," Carly continued. "But…I was across the country, pretending you didn't exist anymore."

Sam shrugged. "There's nothing we can do about that anymore."

"I know," Carly sighed. "I wish there was, though. But…But I promise, I'll be here now, if-if you'll let me. I know it's late, but if you ever need someone, you know, like a best friend, to talk to…you can call me. Whether I'm here or back in Seattle or wherever…"

Sam gave her a small smile. "Okay."

And with that Carly lurched forward and threw her arms around the blonde.

"I missed you, Sam," Carly said.

"I missed you too," Sam told her. "Kind of sucks, not having your best friend around."

"Tell me about it," Carly nodded as they pulled apart.

"Are you crying?" Sam asked, grinning. "You really haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Guess not," Carly chuckled.

…

"No, she's just really weak and she says she feels like she got punched in the stomach," Sam sighed, holding her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she felt Leah's forehead. "She's a little warm…she may have a fever. Hold on."

She turned towards Kira, who was sitting at the end of Leah's bed. "Kira, go run and grab me the thermometer."

Kira nodded and hurried off.

"As long as she's not discharging blood, she's probably in the clear for the moment," Phil said on the other line. "You said she hasn't been coughing up or urinating blood?"

"Not today," Sam replied, taking the thermometer from Kira as she returned into the bedroom.

"Then she's most likely experiencing side effects from the treatment," Phil explained. "Coupled with the side effects from the dialysis. Now you said she felt a little warm?"

"Yeah, but her fever's under 100," Sam said, gently sticking the thermometer into Leah's ear. "99.8. Should I still take her in?"

"In this case, Leah would probably wind up getting sicker from an unnecessary hospital trip, since her immune system is down," Phil responded. "She could wind up catching something that would make her worse. Monitor her, make sure her symptoms stay where the are, and call me if there is any change."

"Okay," Sam nodded. "Thanks."

"Mom?" Leah asked, her voice cracked. "I'm hungry."

"I know, sweetie," Sam said gently. "But you just took your medicine. You can't eat for another two hours. Why don't you try and take a nap? That will take your mind off it?"

"Or we can watch that stupid fashion show you like," Kira said. "Even though it's totally lame and fake."

Leah managed a small grin. "You'll really watch it with me?"

Kira nodded. "There's nothing better on." She grabbed the remote and turned on the T.V. that sat between their two beds.

Sam smiled. "There you go…that will keep you busy. And for dinner I'll make you that special salad thing that you like okay?"

"Thanks," Leah said softly.

"I'll be back to check on you in a little bit," Sam said, kissing the top of Leah's head. "I need to go fill out a bunch of documents for work."

She kissed the top of Kira's head too before heading out of the room, looking back over her shoulder at her daughters sitting together on the bed.

She went into the living room and grabbed her laptop and began to attempt to pull up the documents that Caleb had emailed her to fill out.

"Come on," Sam moaned as her screen began to falter. "Not now…"

Just then there was a knock at the door. Sam closed up her laptop and went to answer it.

Freddie was standing in her doorway.

"Hey," he said. "So…I was in the neighborhood, trying to find some place in the city that sold multivitamins, because I ran out, and I remembered that you said you were having trouble with your laptop last night. I-I thought maybe I could have a look at it now."

Sam laughed. "Perfect timing. I was just about to throw the stupid thing out the window. I was trying to fill out some paperwork but nothing's loading."

"It's probably a software problem," Freddie told her, following her into the living room. "A lot of the older model Pearbooks start experiencing them after a few years. Right now we're trying to fix that with the models we're working on at the company. But there's actually a pretty simple fix for most of the glitches with these models."

"Cool, because if I don't send in that paperwork on time, my boss will kill me," Sam said.

"We wouldn't want that," Freddie chuckled, typing away on Sam's laptop. "I never knew cops had such important paperwork. I thought you guys just arrested the people and let the lawyers handle the boring stuff."

"Pfft, I wish," Sam said. "If you could see the pile on my desk…Most of the stuff is totally useless anyway. I just have to write down every tiny little detail of the arrests I make. Me and Caleb split it up, thank God, otherwise I'd have even more."

"Well, I think I see the problem," Freddie said. "You're server needs updating."

"Well can you fix it?"

"Yup," Freddie nodded, keying in a few items. "There. It's updating right now. It should take about ten minutes for it to complete."  
"Sweet! You're a lifesaver!" Sam said, relieved.

"Eh, it's nothing," Freddie said modestly. "But I should probably make sure there's nothing else causing problems after this finished updating."

"Okay," Sam shrugged. "You want something to eat while we wait? I found this organic trail mix that's actually semi-decent."

"Sure," Freddie nodded.

Sam led him into the kitchen and poured two bowls of the snack.

"So where are the girls?" Freddie asked, popping some of the trail mix into his mouth.

"Their room," Sam replied. "Watching T.V. Kira's actually watching a fashion show with Leah."

"Oh, that's nice of her," Freddie commented.

"Yeah…it's real sweet," Sam mumbled. As much as she loved what Kira was doing, she almost wished that the girls were arguing as they usually did on days like this. It'd bring a bit of normalcy into her life. "Um, so…did you get those vitamins you were looking for? I've got a ton, if you need any. I swear, I have enough medicine in this place to run a drugstore."

"Yeah, I got them," Freddie told her. "After going to about five different stores and getting lost twice. I'm telling you, this has got to be the most confusing city ever."

"You get used to it after a while," Sam said. "Trust me, I got lost a million times when I moved here. One time I had to ride the subway for two hours because I couldn't figure out what stop to get off at."

"Oh God, I don't think I'll even _try _the subway," Freddie laughed. "Besides, if my mom ever found out…"

"It's pretty gross," Sam agreed. "A couple years ago, this woman gave birth on the subway I was riding and when I got on a few days later, there was still a giant puddle sitting where she was."

"How lovely…" Freddie cringed.

"But seriously, dude, the city's not _that _bad," Sam continued. "Just follow the streets. Or if you get really desperate, ask someone for directions."

"Yeah, and get mugged," Freddie scoffed.

"You won't get mugged," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I've lived here for twelve years and I've seen _maybe _twenty muggings."

"_Twenty_?"

"Relax, twenty's nothing," Sam said. "Besides, most of those muggers aren't so tough. They just talk big to try and intimidate you."

"Maybe they're not tough to you," Freddie chuckled. "But if a mugger comes up to me…I think I'll be plenty intimidated."

"Aw, are you really afraid of Big, Scary, New York?" Sam smirked.

"Maybe," Freddie shot back. "This place makes Seattle look like a petting zoo."

"Nah, you're just a priss," Sam said.

"I am _not _a priss."

"Sounds like something a priss would say."

"Oh yeah?" Freddie laughed.

"Yeah," Sam grinned.

During their little discussion, Sam hadn't even noticed that her and Freddie had been inching closer to each other. Now, though, she realized that she was standing so close to Freddie that she could smell his shampoo and see the tiny freckle in his right eye that he had had since she met him. And she could see that his lips were turned into his signature smirk.

His lips…they suddenly seemed very inviting. Heck, she was so close to him right now that she'd barely have to lift her head to connect her lips with his….

Freddie was staring down at her, trying not to concentrate on the fact that Sam's eyes looked like the ocean or that her lips her practically enticing him to bend his head down to meet them.

_What are you doing?_ Sam thought to herself. _You can't kiss him! You can't worry about him right now!_

Yet she could feel her neck stretching up slightly…

_Stop it! _Freddie told himself firmly, feeling his body getting quite warm._ Don't kiss her! You'll freak her out and then she'll never want to see you again!_

But still, he slowly leaned down…

Their lips were now barely centimeters away from each other. Each could feel the other's hot breath on their lips and their own hearts racing…Their lips were about to connect. Sam could almost feel the fireworks erupting and Freddie felt like he was about to explode from happiness.

But then…

"Mom!" Kira said, hurrying into the kitchen just as Sam and Freddie's lips were about to brush against each other's. "Mom! Something's wrong with Leah."

"What?" Sam frowned, a new sensation replacing the wonderful one that had been flooding her body seconds before. She quickly followed her daughter back into the room.

Hesitantly, Freddie followed as well.

Leah was sitting up in her bed, coughing furiously, blood dribbling down her chin. She was clutching her lower side and Sam could tell from her face that she was in a lot of pain.

"Leah," Sam said, trying desperately to keep her voice calm, hurrying over to her daughter. Freddie stood at the doorway, watching the scene, feeling fearful.  
"Leah," Sam said again. "Take deep breaths, okay. Just breathe and-"

But suddenly she vomited all over her sheets, and Sam's heart stopped when she saw that it was all blood.

"Freddie," Sam said, trying to keep her voice level. "Can you call an ambulance?"

"Y-Yeah," Freddie said, pulling out his phone.

"Mommy," Leah gasped. "It hurts."

"We're going to get you to the hospital," Sam said, looking right into her eyes. "You're going to be okay, Leah. Do you understand me? You're going to be okay."

"The ambulance is going to be here in five minutes," Freddie said to Sam. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Go get her some water," Sam told him.

"Right," Freddie nodded, hurrying out of the room.

Sam glanced over at Kira, who was standing in the corner, looking terrified.

"When did she start?" Sam asked.

"About a minute ago…when I went to get you," Kira said. "We were-We were laughing at a commercial and then she just…started coughing."

"Here's her water," Freddie said, returning to the room and handing Sam the bottle of water. Sam undid the lip and gently tilted the opening into Leah's mouth.

"Drink," Sam said, pulling back her hair. "It'll make you feel better."

Unfortunately, barely a moment after Leah had swallowed the water, she vomited again.

"Where's the ambulance?" Sam moaned, feeling panicked. She turned to Freddie. "Can you go wait for them by the door? They should be here any minute."

"Okay," Freddie said. He took one last look at the scene before running out of the room.

He could tell Sam was absolutely terrified. He was too, but he knew it was nothing to the way Sam felt.

_Let her be okay_, Freddie prayed. _Please, just let Leah be okay_.

There was a loud knock at the door and Freddie opened it up right away. Two paramedics stood in front of him.

"Sir, where's your daughter?" one of them asked.

"She's-She's not-She's back there," Freddie said. "In the bedroom."

The paramedics rushed past Freddie towards the girls' room. Freddie followed as well, unsure of what to do with himself. He felt quite useless at the moment.

"How much blood do you estimate she's lost?" one of the paramedics was asking Sam when Freddie returned.

"I-I'm not sure," Sam said. "Maybe a pint…possibly more. Can you just get her to the hospital?"

"We're going to get her there real quick, ma'am," the paramedic told her. "You going to ride along with her?"

"Yes," Sam said at once. She turned to Freddie. "Um, do you think you can drive Kira over behind us? She-She knows how to get there."

"Don't worry, I will," Freddie assured her.

She gave him a short nod and then turned and followed the paramedics out of the room with Leah.

…**..**

**AN-Thanks so much for all the support, I really appreciate it, you guys! I hope you all have a great, safe New Years:)**

**Also, I'm sorry if any of you have felt that this story is moving too slow or is boring. Believe me, no writer ever puts up a story thinking 'You know what? I just want to bore all my readers today.' Everybody puts in a lot of effort and thought into every chapter of his or her story, and puts it up only when he or she believes that it is written to his of her fullest potential. That being said, though, not every chapter of every story can be filled with heartache, betraryl, scandals, tragedy, etc. If every single chapter is like that, there really isn't too much opportunity for a full plot to develop. The story will become almost like a soap opera. Don't get me wrong, those stories are great to read! However, when I planned out this story, I did not want to make it into something like that. Fanfiction is a huge site. There is plenty of every type of story. If you don't like one story, I guarantee you there is one somewhere that you will absolutely love. I've been writing Fanfiction for years. Believe me; I've seen and given my share of criticisms. The point of criticism, though, is to be constructive. Saying 'This story is boring' really does not fall under said category. As I said before, no writer puts up a chapter thinking it is boring, so such a comment doesn't exactly tell the writer how to improve, does it? **

**Anyway, sorry for rambling. I hope 2013 has been wonderful to all of you and I hope 2014 will treat you well!**


	18. Chapter 18

"We need to hook her up to an IV, stat," one of the doctors who had met the ambulance at the hospital entrance said as the paramedics rushed Leah in on a stretcher, Sam keeping up with them the whole way. "We have nurses setting one up right now in room 446."

The paramedics nodded and turned the corner and wheeled Leah into the empty room. Sam made to follow them in, but the doctor stopped her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I cannot allow you in here," he said.

"Why not?" Sam demanded. "She needs me!"

"She needs doctors," he said firmly. "She's in shock right now. We need to bring her vitals down immediately before she goes into surgery."

"Surgery?" Sam exclaimed. "Wait, what surgery is she-"

But the doctor had already turned away, letting the door close in her face.

_If she needs surgery_, Sam thought slowly to herself. _That must mean…her kidney finally gave out._

As that thought sounded through her head, Sam could feel her breathing quickening and her stomach clenching. Her kidney couldn't be giving out now; not when there was still no donor for her. This couldn't be it…

Suddenly Sam saw Phil running down the hallway towards Leah's door.

"Phil!" Sam cried desperately before the doctor had a chance to disappear into the room with the others. "What's happening? The other doctor said something about surgery."

"I was just paged a moment ago," Phil explained. "But from what I understand, Sam, they're predicting that her kidney is completely going."

"What?" Sam said weakly, feeling as though she was about to pass out.

"I'm sorry, but I need to get in there," Phil said, pushing open the door. Sam tried to get a quick look at her daughter, but she couldn't see anything other than white coats surrounding a small bed before the door swung shut again.

"No," Sam whispered, backing up against the wall, her eyes beginning to sting. "No…"

"Sam!"

Sam looked up and saw Carly rushing towards her. Without even thinking Sam threw herself into Carly's embrace.

"Freddie called me…he said something happened with Leah," Carly told her.

"Her kidney," Sam managed to get out. "It's going…she has no donor…oh God, Carly!"

She was now shamelessly crying, tears falling down onto her shirt. This couldn't be happening; Leah wasn't going to make it. Her daughter, her innocent, eleven-year old daughter was going to die, and there was nothing she could do. She felt like she was going to be sick.

Carly couldn't think of any words to say to help. So she simply stayed silent, hugging her friend tightly.

"It's all my fault," Sam gasped, still hysterical. "She didn't feel well today…I should've taken her here earlier!"

"It's not your fault," Carly said softly.

"I need her!" Sam moaned. "I need her…She's my baby, Carly."

"I know, I know," Carly said, still hugging her.

"Mom!"

Sam pulled away from Carly and turned around to see Kira running over to her.

"Where's Leah?" Kira asked.

"She's-She's in there," Sam told her. "Her kidney's going, Kira."

She pulled her healthy child closer to her as Kira's eyes widened and filled with tears, just like her mother.

Carly didn't know what to do. She wanted desperately to help Sam and Kira, but she had no idea how to. She felt as if she was intruding on them during this time, but she didn't want to just _leave _them.

The door of Leah's room then flew open and Phil came out and approached Sam.

"Sam-" he began.

"Is it really going?" Sam whispered.

"I'm afraid so," Phil nodded. "Her kidney has been heading to this point for quite some time. How it managed to last this long…we need to start prepping her for the surgery now, though, and-"

"But she has no donor!" Sam exclaimed. "She can't have any surgery without a donor, Phil!"

Slowly, Phil's lips turned into a smile. "That's the thing," he told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We now have a donor for her."

Sam didn't dare to believe her ears. "What?"

"The test results just came back minutes ago from a willing donor," Phil explained. "He's a match. I was just about to get a nurse to contact him to tell him that we need him here as soon as possible…but apparently he's already checked himself in and said that he's ready to go."

Sam blinked. "Who-Who-"

"It's got to be Freddie," Carly said softly.

Sam spun around. "What? Freddie-Freddie got tested?"

"Him and I both did," Carly nodded. "Before we came to dinner at your place. I-I just got called about a second before Freddie told me to come here. I wasn't a match…I guess he was."

"He's a match?" Sam repeated, feeling as though she were in a dream.

"It was a very lucky match," Phil nodded. "Considering there's no blood relation."

"With the transplant," Sam asked cautiously. "Will Leah…will she be okay?"

"Every surgery has its risks," Phil replied. "However with the new kidney, Leah will be in a much, _much _better condition that she is in currently."

Sam turned back to Carly. "You never said you were getting tested."

"We didn't want to get your hopes up, in case neither of us were a match," Carly explained.

"I'm going to go in and prep Mr. Benson for the surgery," Phil told Sam. "Now you'll be able to see Leah for a few minutes before she goes into the OR, but you'll need to wait until the other doctors and nurses are finished with her in there. I'll have someone come and tell you when they're done."

"Okay," Sam nodded, overwhelmed by this piece of new information. "Wait, Phil?"

"Yes?"

"Could I-Could I see Freddie for a minute before you go in there?" Sam asked.

Phil nodded. "Of course. He's downstairs, room 319."

"Thanks," Sam said as the doctor hurried down the hall.

"Leah's going to be okay?" Kira asked quietly.

Sam squeezed her shoulder. "Yeah…she's going to be okay. Um, Carly?"

"Yeah?" Carly replied.

"Do you think you can stay up here with Kira while I run downstairs?"

"No problem," Carly smiled understandingly.

_He's going to give up one of his kidneys,_ Sam thought as she pressed the elevator button to take her down to the third floor. _He's going to save her life._

Sam quickly found room 319. She knocked at the door and then, not waiting for a response, let herself in.

Freddie was sitting on the small hospital bed, already changed into a white gown.

He looked up as Sam entered the room. "How's Leah?" he asked right away.

"They're prepping her for the transplant," Sam told him. "The transplant with _your _kidney."

"Word travels fast in this hospital," Freddie chuckled. "Especially considering I got the call that told me I was a match just as I pulled into the parking lot here."

"You-You're saving her life," Sam whispered. "You realize that? If you weren't giving her this kidney…she'd be dying right now." She sat down on the bed next to him.

"Are you okay?" Freddie asked gently.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Sam said, looking down at her lap. "I don't…thank you."

"Sam, she's your daughter," Freddie said. "Of course I'm going to help her."

"You have no idea what this means to me," Sam mumbled, still looking down. "I-I'll pay for your operation. And-And your hospital stay, because you're probably going to need to be in here for at least a few days after. And if you need anything else-"

"Sam, don't worry about any of that," Freddie cut her off. "I've pretty much been putting everything I make at work into a savings account for the past twelve years. I can cover this."

"Dude, I can-"

"I'll handle it," Freddie said firmly.

Sam looked up at him. "You know…you're really something, Benson."

"Um…thanks?" Freddie said.

Sam gave a small laugh. "Seriously though…thank you."

"Any time," Freddie grinned. "I'm just glad Leah will be okay now."

"So am I," Sam smiled. She looked up at him, and even though he was about to go into surgery in less than an hour and lose one of his organs, his eyes were still sparkling.

And then, perhaps it was the fact that she had just received the best news she had gotten in quite some time or that she was still so moved by Freddie's gesture, but a wave of instinct suddenly flowed through her. Before giving herself a chance to talk herself out of it, she craned her neck slightly and kissed him.

It was suddenly like she was back in high school, feeling sparks rippling through her body at the feel of Freddie's lips on hers for the first time in over a decade. Freddie's lips hadn't changed a bit; they still felt soft yet strong as he kissed her back.

Meanwhile, Freddie was practically screaming in joy in his head. He couldn't believe at this moment his lips were attached to Sam's. They felt so familiar, yet so sensational, and he could practically feel fireworks shooting off throughout his entire body.

There was a short knock at the door, though, and Freddie and Sam pulled apart from each other just as Phil walked in.

"Okay, Mr. Benson, we're going to start getting you ready for your operation now," he said. "Sam, I was just told that you are able to go up and see Leah for a few moments."

"Alright," Sam nodded, quickly getting to her feet, her face flushing. "Thanks." She turned back to Freddie, who was still wearing a goofy grin.

"Um…I guess I'll see you when you wake up from the operation then," she said somewhat awkwardly.

"I'll be looking forward to it," Freddie said, still smiling.

…..

**AN-Hope everyone's New Years went well, you are all fantastic!**


	19. Chapter 19

"Hey," Sam smiled as she watched Leah slowly open her eyes. She had just gotten out of surgery a couple hours ago, and Sam had been sitting at her bedside ever since.

"Am I in the hospital?" Leah asked groggily as she tried to sit up.

"Yes, but just lie down," Sam said. "You need to rest."

"What happened?" Leah questioned.

Sam chuckled. "You don't remember anything?"

"Just riding in the ambulance."

"Well," Sam said, squeezing her hand. "You, Ms. Leah Beth Puckett, are the proud owner of a new kidney."

Leah frowned. "What?"

"You just got out of the transplant surgery," Sam explained.

"But…I thought there was no donor that was a match to me," Leah said.

"Yeah…I thought so too," Sam told her. "But a last minute match came through."

"Really? That was pretty lucky," Leah said.

Sam grinned. "I'll say…you know, you've met the donor."

"Who is it?" Leah asked curiously.

"Freddie," Sam replied. "He got tested and he found out he was a match right before the operation."

"Whoa…" Leah breathed. "Can I go see him and tell him thank you?"

Sam laughed. "You aren't allowed to leave this bed for awhile. Doctor's orders. And mine. But I'll make sure to send your message down when I go see him later."

"You haven't seen him yet?"

"I needed to make sure you were okay first," Sam told her. "I'll go down in a little bit. Carly and your sister are there now…They wanted me to let them know when you woke up, though, so they'll probably be here in a few minutes."

Leah nodded. Then she looked up at Sam. "Mom?"

"What's up, sweetie?"

"Kira said a couple of nights ago, she heard Freddie in our kitchen," Leah said. "She said you were talking and laughing and acting all happy. Was she right?"

"Clearly the walls in that apartment are _way _too thin," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"So it it's true?" Leah asked excitedly.

"Maybe," Sam said simply.

Leah smiled up at her. "I think you like him."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Do you now?"

Leah nodded. "Yeah. You should ask him out."

"Just like that?" Sam laughed. "You think it's that easy?"

"Sure," Leah shrugged.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Well…I guess you'll have an easy time in the dating field when you turn sixteen."

"You said I could date when I was fourteen," Leah pointed out.

"Yeah, that was before I found out how gutsy you'll be with it," Sam said.

Leah gave a small laugh. "If you really do like him, mom, I hope you go out with him. I approve of him."

"Thanks for your permission, kid," Sam smirked. She kissed her daughter's temple. "Now how are you feeling? You're still probably doped up on pain medication, but once that wears off, you'll be in a little bit of pain."

"I feel fine, just drowsy," Leah replied.

"Let me know the second anything starts to hurt and I'll go grab a doctor, okay?" Sam told her.

"Okay," Leah promised. "I will."

"Good," Sam said. "And Leah?"

"Yeah?"

"You're never, _ever _allowed to scare me like this again."

….

Leah fell back asleep a few hours later. Carly and Kira had joined Sam in the hospital room, and now the three were sitting silently in their uncomfortable plastic chairs. Kira had fallen asleep as well, and her head was resting on Sam's lap.

"Hey," Sam whispered to Carly, running her fingers through Kira's hair. "Um, how's Freddie doing?"

"Pretty well," Carly replied. "The doctor said there was no problems with his surgery."

Sam nodded. "That's good. Um, do you think you can stay with the girls while I go run down to see him for a little bit?"

Carly smiled. "No problem. He was asking for you earlier anyway."

"He-He was?"

Carly nodded.

"Right…Well, I'll be back in a little. If they wake up tell them I just ran out."

Giving her sleeping daughters one last glance, Sam slowly left the room and went down to the third floor. She took a deep breath and walked into the room.

Freddie was lying on the bed, looking very tired. But the second he saw Sam he sat right up.

"Hey," Sam said. "So…you're out of surgery."

"Yeah," Freddie replied. "I am."

"Sorry I'm a little late," Sam said. "I just wanted to make sure Leah was doing okay."

"I figured," Freddie smiled. "How is she?"

"She's sleeping now," Sam answered. "But she's very talkative. She wanted to come down and see you, but I told her that if she even tried to get out of bed I'd ground her until she was thirty. She wanted to thank you, though."

"Well tell her it was nothing," Freddie said.

"Dude," Sam chuckled. "You gave her a kidney…that's kind of something."

Freddie shrugged.

"Um," Sam said, wondering if she should bring up the kiss. "Do you feel different? You know, with only one kidney? When Leah first got her first kidney removed she said she felt lopsided, but I think she was just joking."

"Yeah, I feel different," Freddie nodded. "But…I don't think it's from losing a kidney."

Sam looked at him. "Then…what is it?"

Freddie gave her his signature smirk. "Are we going to talk about it? Or are you going to lock yourself in a mental hospital again?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think I could get away with that this time."

"No," Freddie agreed.

Sam sat down on the end of his bed. "So…what did it mean?"

"Well," Freddie said, his voice full of rationale, as it always was. "What do you want it to mean?"

"I don't know," Sam said lamely. "What do you want it to mean?"

"Come on," Freddie said. "We can't do this Sam…"

Sam sighed. "I know."

The two were silent for a moment.

"Well," Freddie said finally. "I'm happy it happened. I _wanted _it to happen. And I hope it means what I want to mean…Which is…more. I hope it means there can be something more here, Sam."

Sam bit her lip. "I do too…" she whispered. "But…does it work that way? Don't you have to go back to Seattle at some point? And-And I have the twins…"

"Sam, if having you absent from my life for the past twelve years has taught me anything," Freddie sighed. "It's that my life just isn't the same when you're not in it. I don't want to go back to living like that, not when I got a taste of what I've been missing all this time. And I know it's going to be hard…we're not in high school now, we've both got our own responsibilities…but I think in the end…it can be worth it."

Sam gave a small smile. "Well then…are you saying you should go out?"

Freddie stared right into her eyes. "I am."

Sam could feel her heart beginning to race and her palms getting sweaty.

"So what do you say?" Freddie asked.

Sam took a deep breath. "I'd like that."

Freddie's face broke into a grin. "Really?"

"Well with a speech like that, you sort of suckered me in," Sam joked.

"Then that's four years of speech club at high school well spent," Freddie chuckled. "I guess it was worth all the wedgies."

"Wasn't I the one who gave you all those?"

"True," Freddie agreed. He slowly reached for her hand and Sam moved hers towards his.

"I know you probably don't want to do anything until Leah's out of the hospital," Freddie said.

Sam nodded. "No…I _do _want to go out, but-"

"Hey, I get it," Freddie said quickly. "And I'm perfectly fine waiting until then for our first date."

Sam nodded. "You know it will probably be close to a month until she's out of here, right?  
"Hey," Freddie smiled. "I waited twelve years…another month won't kill me."


	20. Chapter 20

Just as Sam predicted, Phil announced that Leah would need to stay in the hospital for another month before she could be released. He explained that they needed to be absolutely certain that Leah's body wouldn't begin to reject the kidney, and that she wouldn't develop any other infections or complications.

Freddie was released after three days. He spent most of his time in the hospital still, though, sitting with Sam in Leah's room. And while he stuck by his and Sam's agreement of not starting anything until Leah was officially in the clear, he did have to admit he enjoyed the small, secret smiles him and Sam would occasionally exchange.

Unfortunately, though, about a week later, Freddie got a call from his boss back in Seattle saying that they needed him back in the office to lead a presentation. Carly was needed back at work as well. This of course saddened Sam, seeing as her and Carly had finally begun to get their relationship back, and her and Freddie were…well, she wasn't exactly sure what they were at the moment, but she definitely knew that she'd miss him when he went back to Seattle.

"It's just one presentation," Freddie told Sam, the day before he was set to leave as they stood outside Leah's room. "I'll go, say some things, and then I can come back here. I've told you, I can do most of my work from my computer."

Sam nodded. "Okay…well, we'll miss you here." She looked down at her feet. "I know we said we're not going to do anything until Leah's out of the hospital, but, um…" she quickly leaned up and kissed his lips briefly.

"For the road," she said, giving him a small smile.

Freddie laughed. "Thanks."

"Hey you guys," Carly said brightly, coming around the corner. "I finally finished packing all my stuff at the hotel…I really wish I didn't have to leave tonight, though."

"Me neither," Sam agreed. "But, um, we'll talk on the phone…and maybe you can come back up here sometime. Or I can fly over to Seattle…"

"Definitely," Carly grinned.

Freddie watched the two girls for a moment, and then, sensing that they'd probably like a moment alone to say goodbye, cleared his throat.

"I'm going to run down to the cafeteria," he announced. "You guys want anything?"

"Oh, bring me back some of their tater tots," Sam said.

"I'm good," Carly told him. "Thanks though."

The two girls were silent as they watched Freddie disappear.

"We'll definitely stay in touch," Carly said after a moment.

"Duh," Sam nodded. "I kind of need my best friend, after all."

Carly's eyes widened. "You really mean that?"

"Come here, kid," Sam chuckled, holding her arms out.

"Maybe I can come back up here some time next month," Carly said. "I always have to review new make-up lines and a lot of the designers have their outlets up here, so I can use that as an excuse. Or I can come up for a weekend sometime."

"And I keep meaning to bring the girls to Seattle anyway," Sam added. "My mom can't fly anymore ever since she tried to smuggle Canadian hamsters into the country, so she can't come here to see them."

"This will work," Carly said confidently.

"It better," Sam said. "Because I'm gonna need someone to gossip to in a few weeks…"  
"Oh! What's going on?" Carly gasped excitedly.

"You can't tell the twins yet, because they'll freak out," Sam said. "But, um, Freddie and I sort of agreed that when Leah's released…we'd go on a date."

Carly's jaw dropped. "What? Are you serious? When did this happen?"

"It kind of came up while we were talking," Sam told her. "After-After we kissed."

Carly covered her mouth with her hand. "You're kidding! You two _kissed_? Oh my God! So do you like him? Are you two going to become a couple?"

"Calm down," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Everything's still really new with this. Who knows what will happen after our date. But I swear, you'll know every detail."

…..

Two and a half weeks later, Leah was officially discharged from the hospital. Her kidney was functioning well and she was doing better than she had been in years.

"I am never, ever, _ever_ setting foot in another hospital again!" Leah said firmly as her, Sam and Kira returned to their apartment.

"Let's hope that's true," Sam said.

"Guess this means I have to go back to sharing my room," Kira sighed. "Too bad…I've been using your half of the room to practice kick flips on my skateboard."

"You better not have broken any of my things!" Leah said.

"I didn't…except for that ugly glass duck you have on your shelf."

"Mom!"

"Hey, no one's allowed to fight for the next twenty-four hours!" Sam said. "Now, I haven't eaten four hours. Who's up for ordering some pizza without a single vegetable on it?"  
"Me!" both of the girls cried at once, forgetting their argument.

Sam smiled. Nothing worked better than food to get those two to get along.

Once Sam ordered the pizzas, the family sat down on the couch, relaxing after their long day at the hospital.

"So can I go to normal school now with Kira?" Leah asked her mom. "And can try out for cheerleading? And can I go to fashion camp this summer? And can I-"

"Slow down, Leah," Sam laughed. "Don't go crazy. You'll have plenty of time to do everything."

"Yeah, and don't be rushing to go to school," Kira cringed. "That place _sucks_. But…guess what? I'm officially ending the semester at school with a B- in math!"

"What?" Sam exclaimed. "You're getting a B in math?"

"Minus," Kira reminded her.

"Who cares about the minus?" Sam said, hugging the girl. "You passed math, Kira! Heck, you did above average!"

"Not too shabby," Leah said.

"It's only because Freddie helped me," Kira mumbled. "Now that he went back home, I'll probably go back to failing."

"Hey, don't say that," Sam said firmly. "You're totally capable of getting even an A all on your own if you try hard enough. But, um…Freddie actually _is _coming back here for a little bit."

"He is?" Kira asked excitedly.

"When?" Leah questioned eagerly.

"Tomorrow," Sam replied.

"Tomorrow?" Leah repeated.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Him and I sort of have…plans."

"What kind of plans?" Kira asked.

"Oh!" Leah squealed. "You guys are going on a date, aren't you?"

"What?" Kira demanded. "You're going on a date with him, mom?"

"It's just one date," Sam told them. "Don't go freaking out, okay?"

"Can we go shopping for your dress?" Leah asked. "You _are _wearing a dress, right? And you need to do something with your hair, because it's getting a little frizzy."

Sam rolled her eyes. "I'll make sure you okay my entire get-up before I leave the apartment."

"Good," Leah said approvingly.

"What are you guys gonna do on your date?" Kira asked.

"I don't know," Sam said honestly. "We could go see a movie, grab dinner…"

"That's it?" Kira frowned. "That's all people do on dates? Sounds boring."

"It's gonna be romantic, Kira," Leah told her sister.

"How is eating and watching a movie romantic?" Kira asked.

"It just is, okay?" Leah replied. "Right mom?"

"Depends," Sam shrugged. "You have to be with the right person."

"Is Freddie the right person?" Kira asked.

Sam smirked. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

….

Freddie had just gotten into New York an hour ago. He quickly checked into his hotel room, threw his bag in there and then rushed off to Sam's apartment. He was beyond excited for this date; it had been all he could think about for the past weeks. He just hoped that things would go well tonight…

When he reached Sam's building, he trudged up the fourteen flights of stairs. He had to take a moment when he finally reached her floor to catch his breath and wipe the sweat off his brow before knocking on her door.

_How does she go up and down those stairs every day_? Freddie wondered briefly as the door swung open by Kira and Leah.

"Hi," he smiled at them.

"Hi, Freddie!" Leah greeted him, throwing her arms around him.

"How's the kidney holding up?" Freddie asked, returning her hug.

"Fine," Leah told him. "Are those flowers for my mom?"

"They are," Freddie nodded, looking at the bouquet of roses in his hand. "You think she'll like them?"

"Definitely," Leah nodded. "I'll go get a vase ready!"

"How are you doing, Kira?" Freddie asked as Leah ran into the kitchen.

"Good," Kira replied. "I get to try out for the basketball team at school next week since I got my grades up high enough."  
"That's great!" Freddie said. "I don't know too much about basketball since my mom never let me play any competitive sports, but if you ever need someone to bring you water or something, I'm your guy."

Kira laughed. "Okay."

"Who was at the door?" Sam asked, suddenly coming into the room, adjusting her necklace. "Was that-"

She fell silent as she caught sight of Freddie. "H-Hi," she said softly.

It took Freddie a moment to find his voice. His mind had gone fuzzy from looking at Sam in her stunning gold dress that looked absolutely beautiful on her.

"These-These are for you," Freddie stuttered, handing Sam the roses.

Sam blushed. No one had ever bought her flowers before. "Thanks."

"I have the vase!" Leah called, running back into the room, taking the flowers from her mother. "Now go have fun on your date!"

"We have to wait for Caleb to get here to watch you guys," Sam said.

"Mom!" Kira moaned. "We're eleven! We're not going to burn the place down by ourselves."

"I'm not entirely sure I believe that," Sam said.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Leah ran to get it.

"Finally!" she said as Caleb walked in.

"Hey, I was told to be here at seven," Caleb defended. "I'm only three minutes late. I would've been right on time if you guys didn't live on the highest floor of the building."

Leah turned to her mom and Freddie. "Okay, we're covered here."

"Wow, is she the one going on this date or are you?" Caleb joked to Sam.

"We'll be back before midnight," Sam laughed. "There's money in the kitchen for dinner."

"Just have fun," Caleb told her.

"I will," Sam smiled.

Once the two left the apartment, Sam looked up at Freddie. "So," she said. "What's the plan for tonight."

"Well," Freddie said. "I-I did a lot of research, and I finally found the perfect New York date. You-You probably have already done all this stuff…I was thinking we could walk through central park, eat dinner at one of the city's famous delis, go look at all the skyscrapers…but if you've already done all that, we could do something else."

Sam laced her fingers through his. "It's okay," she said. "I want to do it all with you this time."

…..

Sam and Freddie wound up getting home much later than Sam had told Caleb. When they finally arrived back at Sam's apartment, it was almost three in the morning, and they were exhausted. Neither minded, though, for they had each just experienced the best night of their life.

"I can't believe you actually got us a carriage ride through central park," Sam said as she unlocked her front door. "That was awesome."

"It was," Freddie agreed. "Even though I'm pretty sure that horse was trying to kill me."

"It was not," Sam laughed.

"It almost bit off my hand when I tried to pet it!"

"Well, well, well," Caleb said from the couch as the two walked inside. "Look who's back."

"Whoa, sorry," Freddie said, looking at his watch. "I didn't realize it was so late."

"Hey, I'm only teasing," Caleb said, getting to his feet. "But I do have to get home. Vivian's waiting up for me. She told me to congratulate you on your date, Sam. And I apologize in advance for the flood of double date invitations that are sure to come your way soon."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Thanks for watching the girls, Caleb."

"No problem, they went to bed a couple hours ago."

"I highly doubt they're _actually _sleeping," Sam said. "They're probably sitting awake in their room, waiting to bombard me with questions about tonight."

"Sounds about right," Caleb nodded. "I'll see you at work then. It was good seeing you again, Freddie."

"You too," Freddie nodded.

Sam waited until Caleb had left before looking up at Freddie. "So," she said softly. "Tonight was fun…Thanks for everything."

"It was probably one of the best nights of my life," Freddie said truthfully. "So thank _you_."

Sam bit her lip nervously. "Well…" she began. "We _could _do that again sometime."

Freddie nodded. "I'd like that a lot, Sam. You busy this weekend?"

"Nope," Sam replied. "Hey, how about we go to this incredible hot dog place? It's delicious, nowhere has better wieners. And it's right next to a mall. Maybe after we could go there and walk around for a little bit."

"Honestly, I don't care _what _we do," Freddie grinned. "As long as you're on this date, I'm set."

Sam chuckled. "I see you haven't lost your cheesy touch."

"I guess not," Freddie nodded.

Sam cleared her throat. "Well, um, it _is _sort of late, and I have to be at work in the morning."

"Oh, right," Freddie said. "I-I guess I should let you get to sleep then." He slowly leaned down and kissed her gently. Sam wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

They stood like that for several minutes, until both of them felt like they were going to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

"Good night," Sam smiled when they finally pulled apart.

"N-Night," Freddie said, trying to regain himself.

Giving her a fleeting wave, Freddie headed out of the apartment. As he closed the door behind him, he felt like jumping for joy.

_I got a second date_! he thought to himself excitedly. _I'm going on a second date with Sam Puckett. _

He didn't think it could ever get any better.

Meanwhile, back inside the apartment, Sam stood still for a few moments, trying to wrap her head around what had happened that evening. She wasn't used to coming back from dates feeling _happy_.

_He really is something_, Sam told herself.

She kicked off her heels and headed back to her bedroom, passing the twins door as she did.

She quietly opened the door a crack and just as she had suspected, both of her daughters were sitting up in their beds.

"You realize how late it is?" Sam asked, walking into the room.

"We couldn't sleep," Kira said.

"How was your date?" Leah asked at once. "Was it super romantic? What did you guys do?"

"He took me on a carriage ride through central park," Sam said, sitting down on Kira's bed.

"Aw!" Leah cooed. "That's so sweet!"

"And then we went to Mario's Deli," Sam continued. "Where he bought me the biggest sandwich on the menu, the New York Extreme."

"I heard those things are the size of a toddler," Kira gasped. "Did you eat the whole thing?"  
"Do you have to ask?" Sam grinned. "And after that we just walked though the city…It was the absolute best date I've ever been on in my life."

"Does that mean you're going to go on another one with him?" Leah asked eagerly.

Sam nodded. "We're going out again this weekend."

"Yes!" Leah cheered.

"You guys really like him?" Sam asked the twins.

They both nodded.

"He's super nice," Leah said.

"Yeah mom, he's way better than any other guy you've dated," Kira agreed.

"Tell me about it," Sam sighed. She got to her feet. "But it's late, you two. You need to get to sleep."

"But you have to tell us more about the date!" Leah said.

"I'll tell you guys everything in the morning," Sam said. "Deal?"

"Deal," they both reluctantly sighed.

Sam leaned down and kissed each of them.

"I love you guys," she whispered.

"Love you too," they yawned, closing their eyes.

Sam stepped out of their room. As she closed their door behind her, she couldn't help but smile to herself. For the first time in she couldn't even remember how long, she finally felt at peace.

….

**AN-So this is the last official chapter of this story. I have an epilogue all ready to go up tomorrow, though:)**


	21. Chapter 21

_Two years later_

Sam and Freddie were still going strong in their relationship. It was hard at times, with Freddie having to go back to Seattle for work at least a few times a month, but the couple had managed to work through it. Freddie spent the majority of his time in New York now, though. He had even invested in a small studio apartment a few blocks away from Sam.

Carly wasn't able to visit New York as frequently as Freddie, simply because her job was not as flexible. However she had visited three times since reuniting with Sam, and Sam had flown back to Seattle once with Freddie and the twins. As they had promised each other, Carly and Sam didn't let the fact that they were far apart keep them from staying in touch. The girls talked several times a week and were up to date on all important happenings in the other's life.

Since the transplant, Leah had yet to have any sort of relapse with her health. Freddie's kidney was still functioning inside of her and she was living life just as any normal teenager would. She rejoined Kira in public school, where she made the cheerleading squad.

Kira had made the basketball team at school as well. Leah would always be at the games with the rest of the cheerleaders, screaming extra loud whenever he sister would get the ball. With Freddie's help, Kira was not only doing well in math, she was excelling. It was now her favorite subject. She did still struggle with the rest of her classes, but was always able to pull though by the end of the semester.

Sam was very happy in her life now. She sometimes caught herself wondering how she managed to get herself to this point. She had two healthy daughters, a best friend back in Seattle and an _amazing _boyfriend. Perhaps that age old saying, "Things will always work out in the end" proved to be true.

….

"Mom, please!"

"No, Leah," Sam said firmly, pulling on her jacket.

"Why not?" thirteen-year old Leah moaned.

"Because you're way too young to date," Sam said, adjusting her police belt.

"I'm thirteen!" Leah exclaimed. "That's practically an adult!"

"Mom?" Kira said, joining Sam and her sister. "Is it okay if I practice my layups in the kitchen?"

"What? No!" Sam said. "You'll break everything."

"Um…well, how _not _okay is it?" Kira asked. "Just out of curiosity."

Sam rolled her eyes. So _that _had been what that crash was five minutes ago.

Just then the front door of the apartment opened and Freddie walked in.

"Hey," Freddie smiled, putting his key in his pocket.

"I thought you were going to be here an hour ago," Sam said, grabbing her phone and jamming it into her pocket.

"I know," Freddie sighed. "But I had trouble finding a cab. After two years I _still _can't hail one properly."

"Well I have to run to work now," Sam said. "I'm about to be late."

"I'll wait up for you," Freddie smiled.

"You better," Sam said, her eyes sparkling. "I'll see you later."

"Hey, wait," Freddie said, grabbing her wrist gently before she ran off. He leaned down and kissed her. "Love you."

Sam grinned. "Love you too. But now I _really _have to go. Bye girls! See you tonight!"

"Bye," the girls echoed as their mother rushed out of the apartment.

"So," Freddie said, turning to the twins. "Looks like it's the three of us tonight. What should we do?"

"Oh, I've been practicing cooking lately!" Leah said excitedly. "Can cook dinner for us tonight? I can make a really good chicken Parmesan."

"I'm a sucker for Italian food," Freddie chuckled.

"Have takeout on stand by," Kira said warningly, earning her a glare from her twin.

"Well before I forget," Freddie said, pulling out a large back. "I have some presents here…"

"Sweet!" Kira grinned.

"Here you go," Freddie said, handing each of the girls a game case. "I got these from work. It's some new version of a game that's apparently super popular with kids today."

"Duh!" Leah nodded, looking at the game. "This is "Extreme Life Simulation". Our whole school plays this game! This version doesn't come out for another six months though."

"Ha! Everyone's gonna be so jealous," Kira smirked.

"And isn't that what matters?" Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Carly also sent me up with some stuff for you guys…"

"But she just sent us huge packages last week," Leah pointed out.

"Why are you complaining?" Kira asked her sister, shaking her head.

"This is for Leah," Freddie said, handing the smaller girl a pale blue scarf. "Carly picked it up when she went to some fashion show last week. She said it was from some big designer…Gloria Vanda? Vala? Vava?"

"Gloria Valde," Leah corrected. "She's one of my favorite designers ever! This scarf is _totally _her. Look at the stitching. And the texture. And this _color_. I've never seen anything like this before."

"It's blue," Kira said simply. "And a scarf. You wrap it around your neck. It's not rocket science, Leah."

"It's not just a scarf, Kira," Leah sighed. "It's the focal point of any outfit."

"Right…" Kira said.

"This one's for you," Freddie said, handing Kira a box set of DVDs. "They're vocal training DVDs. Your mom mentioned to Carly that you were thinking of trying out for your school musical next month."

"It's no big deal," Kira shrugged. "I probably won't get it. Another girl's trying out who always gets the lead parts."

"Hey, you'll do fine," Freddie told her. "Your singing is terrific, Kira."

"Yeah, it's really not bad," Leah nodded.

"See? You're actually good enough to warrant a compliment from your sister," Freddie laughed.

Kira gave a small smile.

"Freddie, tonight can we go to the movies after I make dinner?" Leah asked.

"Oh, and mom took us to this really good ice cream place last week," Kira added. "You _have _to try it. It's _amazing_."

"Y-Yeah, okay," Freddie said. "But first…I want to talk to you two about something first. Here, come sit down."

The three sat down on the couch and the twins looked up at Freddie expectantly.

"Okay," Freddie said, taking a deep breath. "You guys know that your mom and I have been dating for a little over two years now, right?"

"Sure," Kira shrugged.

"And you know that I love her very, very much," Freddie continued.

"We know," Leah giggled.

"Right," Freddie nodded. "And, well, I love you girls very much too. Which is why I wanted to ask you something important. How-How would you guys feel if I…if I asked your mom to marry me?"

"What?" the girls both gasped.

Freddie chuckled and pulled out a small box and showed them a sparkling engagement ring. Him and Carly had spent weeks searching for it back in Seattle.

"Whoa," Leah breathed, staring down at the ring. "It's so pretty!"

"So…would you be alright with this?" Freddie asked. "I know how close you guys are with your mom. I wouldn't want to do anything like this unless you two would be completely comfortable with it."

"Please, I think it's _fantastic_," Leah said. "My mom's gonna be so happy! Obviously she's going to say yes. I can't believe this! When are you going to propose?"

"I was thinking tonight," Freddie said. He looked over at Kira, who hadn't said a word.

"Kira?" Freddie said gently. "How do _you_ feel about this?"

"If you marry my mom," Kira started slowly. "Would that make you, like, my stepdad?"

"It would," Freddie nodded. "If you're okay with that."

Kira looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay with that."

And with that she stood up and hugged Freddie. Leah joined in as well, and for a moment, Freddie simply sat there, beaming.

….

"Well, work wasn't a total bust," Sam announced later that evening, returning to the apartment. "I got to taze four people. I had to chase them down for six blocks first, but I got them."

"Sounds like fun," Freddie chuckled, meeting his girlfriend at the door and greeting her with a deep kiss.

"Not as fun as that," Sam grinned when the two pulled apart. "Hey, where are the twins?"

"Sleeping," Freddie said.

"It's ten o'clock," Sam frowned.

"Yeah, well we went to a movie and ice cream, so I think they got tired out," Freddie said quickly.

"Well, at least now we've got a little time to ourselves," Sam said, lacing her arms around Freddie's neck. "Wanna go and make up for the last week you've spent in Seattle?"

"Definitely," Freddie nodded. "But first…I have a little surprise for you."

"Is it food?" Sam asked excitedly.

"Um, not exactly," Freddie said. He took her hand. "Follow me."

He led Sam out to her own fire escape, where him and the twins had spent over an hour decorating it rose petals and candles.

"Whoa," Sam said softly, looking around. "It's so nice."

"I figured, you know, fire escapes are sort of our thing," Freddie said, quickly pulling off his jacket and hanging it around Sam's small frame. "You remember back in the ninth grade?"

"Our first kiss," Sam nodded.

"And then in our junior year," Freddie continued. "After we broke up…we went back to my fire escape and made out until midnight."

"I think it was actual twelve thirty by the time we stopped," Sam chuckled.

"Probably," Freddie agreed, sitting down on the chair he had brought out. He held out his arms and Sam sat down on his lap.

Freddie craned his neck and gently kissed her. "I missed you."

"You were only gone for a week," Sam smirked.

"I still missed you."

"Yeah, well, I guess I missed you a little too," Sam chuckled. "But you had to give that presentation…how was that, by the way?"

"Fine," Freddie replied. "But I have some exciting news for you."

"What?" Sam asked curiously.

"Well, I've been talking to my bosses for awhile now," Freddie explained. "And I finally got them to agree to transfer me to their New York office."

"What?" Sam exclaimed.

"It's a smaller branch," Freddie went on. "But I'm doing the same thing I'm doing there."

"So does that mean you're going to move down here…permanently?" Sam asked slowly.

Freddie nodded. "I'm probably still going to have to go back to Seattle at least a couple times a year. You know, so my mom won't go completely berserk, but I won't have to keep going back and forth anymore."

"Good," Sam said. "Because I lied. I didn't miss you a little…I missed you a lot."

Freddie laugh and he hugged her close.

The couple sat like that for several moments, simply enjoying the other's touch.

Finally, though, Freddie made to sit up, and Sam slid off his lap.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Freddie said, feeling his palms sweat a little, looking out at the city. He took a deep breath and turned back towards Sam.

"Sam…you know I'm crazy about you, right?"

"You tell me that at least five times a day," Sam smirked. "I think I got the message."

"I only say it so often because I really mean it," Freddie said earnestly. "When I have to go back to Seattle without you, it's the hardest thing in the world. That's why I'm so glad I get to move up here for good."

"I'm glad too," Sam told him.

"You've become my whole world, Sam," Freddie continued. "I-I never thought I'd love someone as much as I love you. I know how life is without you, and it's horrible. I never want to have experience that again. Which is why I've wanted to do this for awhile…"

He slowly lowered himself on one knee and pulled the small box out of his pocket.

"Freddie…" Sam whispered, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Samantha Puckett," Freddie said. "Will you marry me?"

Sam was completely silent for a moment. She stared down at her boyfriend for almost an entire minute, still not saying anything.

"Sam?" Freddie said, starting to feel a bit nervous. "Um, did-did you hear me? I-I asked-"

"Yes," Sam said quickly, finding her voice.

"Yes?" Freddie repeated.

"I-I'll marry you," Sam said, a huge smile creeping onto her face. "I'll marry you."  
Freddie could feel his face lighting up. He quickly scrambled to his feet and slid the ring onto her finger. He then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately.

"Oh my God…"Sam breathed when they pulled away. She looked back down at her finger. "We're getting married. I-I can't believe it."

"Me neither," Freddie said, his heart still racing. "I'm so excited, Sam. You have no idea how happy you just made me. Oh! Wait, come back inside, the girls are probably freaking out right now…I promised them I'd tell them the second I did this."

"Wait, I thought they were sleeping," Sam frowned as Freddie helped back into the apartment. "We can just tell them tomorrow or-wait. Did they _know_?"

Freddie nodded.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Which means they're probably in there ready to explode."

Sure enough, when Sam and Freddie reached the twins room, they could hear muffled whispers and there was light shining through the crack of the door.

Sam opened it up and saw the girls both huddled together on Leah's bed.

"I should've known there was no way you two would ever be in bed at a normal hour," Sam said.

The girls barely heard her as their eyes jolted down to their mother's hand, where they say her new engagement ring.

"Yes!" Leah cheered, jumping off her bed and running to hug Sam. "Yes! You're going to marry Freddie!"

"Yeah, I heard you guys knew before I did," Sam laughed.

"Duh, whose idea do you think it was to do the candles?" Kira said, nodding over at Leah as she hugged her mother as well.

"Hey, who wants to go out and celebrate?" Freddie asked.

"Where?" Sam inquired.

"Wherever, I don't care," Freddie said. "I'll be the happiest man on earth no matter where we go."

Sam leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.

"Okay, we get it, you're getting married," Kira cringed. "Are we going to have to see you two mashing lips every second now?"

"Shush," Sam smirked playfully. "But since Freddie says he doesn't care where we go…who's up for a trip to Bacon-Wrapped Everything?"

"Me!" the girls both yelled.

"Bacon-Wrapped Everything?" Freddie repeated.

"Oh man, that place is the best," Sam said. "I would've taken you earlier, but it just opened back up again. It was closed down by the health inspectors a few years back."

"Well…I'm marrying into this family," Freddie chuckled. "So I guess I better get used to this."

….

**AN-Well, that's it. Thanks so much for everyone who read/reviewed/supported this story. I loved writing this!**


End file.
